The Pilgrimage
by Nyhlus
Summary: AU filled with demons, guns, desert, and death. When Sora's mother is killed, she is sent on a quest to protect a sacred artifact. On the way she enlists a band of scavengers led by Tai, but not everything is as it seems. Taiora, Mimato, Takari
1. The Chase

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of it's characters.

Chapter 1

A rather large village, full of old rusty shacks surrounded the large stone temple. To the east of the village is a large sea, to the west a desert that stretches as far as the eye can see. Sora stood at the steps leading to the front archway of the temple. She took a deep breath before beginning her ascent up the stairs. The building was massive; it took up about a third of the village. It towered over ten stories high. The temple was made out of black stone. When Sora reached the entrance there stood two guards. They wore simple brown uniforms holding rifles with fixed bayonets. The guard on the left gave Sora a quick look over. He then simply nodded his head. Sora, trying not to seem intimidated, entered the front doorway.

Inside the dark black stone and no windows required torches along the hallway for any light. Sora slowly walked down the long narrow hallway, in and out of darkness as she passed each torch. The contrast between inside the black temple and the bright and sunny outside, the cool breeze that existed within these dark corridors compared to the hot humid weather outside made it seem as if you were entering into another world. Or at least that is what it felt like for Sora, each time she entered.

After walking what would seem like to most as circles Sora finally reached her destination, the central chamber. Inside light beamed down from an opening at the tip of the temple. This illuminated the center of the room. There standing in the center of the room stood a woman, draped in cloth, holding a golden staff with a diamond sphere on it's tip the size of a baseball. She was murmuring something Sora couldn't make out from a book in front of her.

Sora did not know how to approach the figure. She raised out her right hand to say something but stopped. Then simply took a step forward and took a step into the light and stopped. "Hello, Sora." The woman said in a calm voice, with her back still to Sora.

"Hello Toshiko." Sora said back in a cynical voice.

"Please Sora, enough with the formalities, it's Mother. Now what is the matter child?" Toshiko, Sora's Mother asked.

Sora crossed her arms as she stood there. Toshiko kept her back to Sora. "You've been in here for the last two days. Some of the people in the village are getting worried. You need to leave this place and tell the villagers everything is okay. What have you been doing this whole time?"

Toshiko did not reply. Slowly she turned to face and looked at Sora. Sora took a step back, emerging her into the darkness after seeing the pain and sorrow on Toshiko's face. "I've been reading the prophecy over and over again. And no matter how many times I read it, it never changes."

"Mother?" Sora asked with a perplexed look on her face.

A single tear ran down Toshiko's cheek. "I'm sorry Sora, I always loved you."

Sora tensed up, something was horribly wrong. She felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. She wanted to say something but could not come up with the words. Her mother remained silent standing, and staring directly at Sora.

Then an object flashed by Sora's eyes. Confused Sora tried to follow whatever it was with her eyes but lost it. She then looked back at her mother, who gave a gentle nod. A black figure appeared directly behind Toshiko. Sora's eyes widened as the figure stabbed a sword right through Toshiko's back. "Mother!" Sora cried out in pain. The black figure grabbed the staff from Toshiko's hands and disappeared into the darkness.

Toshiko's lifeless body slowly descended onto the floor. Sora dropped to her knees unable to move looked down to the ground as tears began to flow down her face. A million thoughts, all of pain and sorrow rushed through her head. In what seemed like an eternity Sora slowly tried to regained her composure. Her fist clenched up as she punched the ground and screamed as loud as she could.

She ran through the dark narrow hallways as fast as she could. The tight corners made it so she continued to smack into the walls as she ran. The pain she did not feel, nor even notice. The only things going through her heads were thoughts of her mother. It had not been easy growing up with the high priestess as her mother. They never really seemed to get along. Her mother always seemed to put the temple and her research above Sora. But now regrets began to swarm her head, so much wasted time over nothing. The regrets switched to anguish, then rage, rage for whoever it was that made it that Sora would never be able to fix her mistakes.

The front entrance came into view. Sora sprinted towards the door and positioned her shoulder before smashing the door open. The two guards quickly turned and looked at her. "Has anyone exited from here since I entered?" she asked, both guards were confused but shook their heads. "Guard the entrance, nobody enters or exits temple under any circumstance." With that Sora ran and jumped over the first dozen stairs, then dashed down the rest.

Sora ran down into the dirty and sandy makeshift streets of the village. She continued to run, turning her head in circles trying to see anything out of the ordinary. The same shacks, the same people going upon their daily lives. There's no way that figure could have just completely vanished. They had to be somewhere, they can't escape this easy. The village is surrounded by water and desert; there is no way to leave this place unseen.

Then a figure caught her eye, someone she had never seen before. She quickly ran up to the young man and grabbed him by the collar. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The young man was taken aback by her. "My name is Tai, I'm the leader of a group of scavengers, and we've come here to trade our goods. Now can you please let me go."

This guy was obviously not who Sora was looking for. She let him go and continued to look around the small market area of the village. How could she let this guy slip through her fingers? Maybe he was hiding, no; he'd want to get out of here as fast as he could. A engine roared, she turned to see a figure in a black robe drive off on a motorcycle with a familiar golden glare come from his back, the staff. "There!" Sora nearly yelled but stopped herself to not cause a panic, which wouldn't help. She turned to Tai. "He's killed the priestess! And stolen the golden staff! Help me stop him!" She said to him.

Tai was quick to react. Tai run by and jump onto his dirt bike not faraway, he kick started the bike then zoomed after the figure. "Hey! Wait!" Sora exclaimed.

Tai lowered his goggles down over his eyes as he drove after the figure off in the distance. He took a quick glance back to see no one else following behind him out of the village. That meant it was just him and the guy, Tai didn't mind. He took out his pistol and tried to see if he could get a shot away. The guy was too far ahead and was swerving making it nearly impossible for Tai to get a good shot. He put his pistol back in its holster then grabbed hold onto the handlebars with both hands and hit the gas. The bike's front wheel shot up but Tai was able to bring the tire down and continue his pursuit at high speed.

"Tai? Tai do you read me?" A voice called out from the radio attached to the handlebars of the dirk bike.

"What is it Izzy?" Tai asked.

"What's going on? We're all done here. Where the hell are you?" Izzy replied.

Slowly Tai was drawing closure to the figure, but was still a ways away. "At the moment? I'm chasing down an assassin through the desert who has stolen the golden staff."

"Oh," was all that Izzy could muster on the other line. "You need any assistance?"

"That would be nice Izzy. I'm going to see if I can steer this guy north, try to pick us up on the radar and see if you can track us down," Tai explained his plan.

"Roger that, see you soon." And with that the radio went dead.

Once again it was just Tai and the assassin. As Tai gained more ground he began to angle his bike about ten degrees to the figure's left and sure enough the figure saw this and began to ahead northward. It was around this time Tai realized what he was even doing. Who was that girl back there? He was always very impulsive, quick to jump to things but he thought this probably took the cake for the craziest. Coming back to reality Tai once again took out his pistol and tried to get a good shot. After following the guy precisely with his gun he pulled the trigger.

The assassin took a sharp swerve. Tai thought he had hit the guy for a second. But it looked like the guy had just dodged it. Shit, this was going to be harder than Tai had previously thought. Once again Tai had to put his pistol away to focus on driving. It had been a good decision as the assassin turned north to some steeper dunes. The first one was a five foot drop. Tai had barely even noticed it before he was airborne. The bike smacked down onto the sand and Tai held tightly trying to keep the bike steady. As they drove over, under and around these steeper dunes it became even harder for Tai to even get close to the guy. In fact Tai seemed to even be losing ground.

Another big drop took Tai completely by surprise. The landing was ugly; Tai even put his foot down for a second in order to keep balance. Tai lost a lot of speed, even feared for a second that he'd lost the assassin. But he could still see him in the corner of his eye, as they moved forward they entered a completely flat, dry solid ground part of the desert.

Finally Tai was able to catch up much quicker as it appeared he had the marginally superior bike. This turned into a blessing and curse at the same time, as a bullet flew right by Tai's face. He didn't even see the guy pull out a gun; it must have been hidden under the guy's robe. Tai took his gun out himself and took a shot but missed by a mile. Another gunshot was heard, a ding was heard from the assassin's bike causing him to lose balance for just a second.

Tai turned to his right to see a large white bus speeding towards them. The bus was covered in gear including a large rack of junk attached to the roof. On the roof also sat TK who held a hunting rifle in his arms.

It was a large relief for Tai to see the rest of his crew. He aimed his pistol and fired, this time hitting the assassin's back tire's frame, severely damaging it. The assassin was able to keep riding it though and fired a second shot from his gun too. This time he didn't miss, the bullet struck Tai on the shoulder. Tai wasn't able to keep steady and his bike leaned over to the left sending Tai flying off the bike.

The assassin seemed to be in the clear but the damage to his back wheel meant he couldn't swerve away from the bus which tried to cut him off. The figure came to a near stop and before he could really get his speed back another bike's engine roared right behind him.

Seemingly out of nowhere Sora came riding a dirt bike at breakneck speed straight towards the assassin. She came up right behind him, before he could get his speed back. She jumped off her bike at full speed and tackled the figure to the ground. The figure was stunned, Sora quickly got on top of him, turned him over, grabbed his collar and raised her fist right to his face. "Who are you? Who sent you?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The assassin gave off a slight chuckle, "I'm never going to tell you." He said with a smile on his face.

This enraged Sora, she reached to his side and grabbed his gun that had flown from his hand. Tai had been able to limp his way to Sora, the bus had also stopped and the others looked on. Sora aimed down and shot the assassin in the knee cap. He cried out in pain as he reached for his wound, to which Sora just kicked his hands away. "Do you think I'm fucking joking? Is this a fucking game to you?"

The assassin gave off the same sly smirk. "Yes, and I won."

Sora fired a single shot into the guy's chest. She then dropped the gun at her feet before falling to her knees and crying. Tai placed his hand on her shoulder, about the only thing he could do.

The front doors of the bus swung open. The first to exit was a rather short young female. She took one look at Tai and Sora before rushing to Tai's side. "Tai! You're hurt!"

"It's okay sis," Tai reassured her. "It's just a flesh wound."

The young female grabbed a hold of Tai's arm. She then took a closer look at the wound on his shoulder. "Drop the macho attitude for one second, you could be seriously injured. Joe! Can you come take a look at this?" She called out back at the bus. She then looked back to see Tai still staring down at Sora, who was on her knees in front of them looking at the ground. "Who is she?" Kari whispered to Tai.

"I don't know." Tai whispered back.

Sora wiped the tears from her face and stood up. "My name is Sora." She turned and looked at the brother and sister.

"Kari." Kari said in return.

At that moment Joe finally was able to step off the bus. "Let's take a look at your injury there Tai." Joe said as he approached. Tai rolled his eyes as he took off his shirt to reveal the wound on top of his shoulder with all the blood draped down. Izzy followed behind Joe, but turned his attention to the assassin's motorcycle. Cody and Ken exited the bus; Cody turned his attention to the assassin's body, Ken to Tai's bike a fair distance away.

"Oh my god." Sora said looking at his wound. "Are you okay?"

Tai nodded. Joe looked over the wound, "He'll live." Joe declared. "I'll go get some bandages."

Sora hung her head. "I can't help but feel responsible for getting you injured and I am deeply sorry but I must say I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me and my village."

"Don't mention it," Tai said. "Hey Izzy can you salvage anything from the guy's bike?"

It took a second for Izzy to look up from examining the insides of the bike. "The whole back section of the bike is completely wrecked but there are plenty of salvable parts from the front."

"Sounds good." Tai said as he turned to Sora. "Let me introduce you to my crew. Like I said before we are a group of salvagers." He put his arm around Kari. "This is my little sis Kari. Over examining the bike is my right hand man Izzy, he's a master mechanic and salvager. The guy retrieving my bike is Ken and the short guy next to you is Cody, both are experienced mechanics as well. Joe here is great at salvaging all non mechanical supplies." Tai then pointed to on top of the bus. "The guy standing on top of the bus is TK, one of the best shots you can find. And the lady exiting the bus is our newest addition to the crew, Mimi, our driver."

Mimi slowly walked off the bus with a slight smirk on her face. She walked up to Sora, "Sora was it? Nice to meet you." Mimi extended her arm, Sora was hesitant for a second before shaking it. "So can you tell me who we were chasing here?" Mimi asked looking down at the dead body Cody was examining.

Everyone looked at Sora, she just stood there for a second before choking on her own words "He…stole something…and…ah… killed the priestess."

"Who's that?" Mimi asked.

"My mother."

"Oh," Mimi said as her facial expression changed feeling pretty stupid. "I'm sorry."

"Hey guys?" Cody called out to them. They all turned and looked at him. "I think I've found something." He then pulled out from under the assassin's black cloak a golden staff with a diamond sphere at its tip.

Sora's eye's widened when she saw it. "Give that to me! Now!" She yelled.

Tai reached his hand and placed it on her shoulder to try and calm her. "After seeing what you did to the last guy who tried to steal it. You don't have to worry about us trying to take it from you." He then nodded and Cody handed her the staff. "Can I ask a question though? Is that the Staff of Antioch?"

Holding the staff firmly between her grips, she let off a slight nod. Tai did not need to say anything. He looked around at his crew. It had been quite a day.

"What now boss?" Izzy said as he picked the motorcycle off the ground looking at Tai.

Tai had no idea. "Let's get the two bikes onto the bus, might as well head back to the village to find a place to sleep. I doubt anyone wants to spend any more nights sleeping in that bus than they have to." Tai looked over at Sora. "We can give you a lift."

"My bike's fine, but thanks." Sora said.

"Speaking of which," Tai said as he turned to see Ken walking the dirt bike towards the bus. "What's the damage?"

Ken gave the bike a quick look over as he walked over. "It's in better shape than you are, no major damage that I can see. Might want to give it a closer examination though, that was quite the wipe-out, something could have come loose inside."

"What should we do with the body here? Just leave it?" Joe asked.

It took a second for Tai to think it over. "Might as well let the vultures have it, we've got no purpose for it, probably will only cause trouble. You need it Sora?"

Sora found that question kind of weird. "Uh no." Tai just shrugged and went back to overseeing them collecting the different parts and loading them onto the back of the bus. Sora just stood there for a while, she couldn't get over how casually everyone was taking the situation. She couldn't hold it in and had to ask, "does killing come easy for you?"

"Excuse me?" Tai asked.

"It's just, I've never killed anyone, much less harmed them. I've seen people die but not like that. You all act like it's nothing. Does life come cheap for you?" Sora went on, before catching herself. "I'm not trying to sound condescending or anything."

The others of the crew kind of looked at each other, none really knowing how to answer. "Salvaging is a dangerous business; we've been attacked many times. I personally have killed plenty. I used to even be a mercenary before this." Tai tried to explain to her. "But we don't think life is cheap. For the assassin there it did, we pity him and don't try to care, just as he did."

"We've lost plenty of friends and family, and you can be damned sure we didn't leave them to the vultures." TK said from atop the bus with a look of anguish.

Just the look from TK made Sora feel awful. "I'm sorry; I should have never said anything."

Mimi just shook her head. "It's okay you didn't mean anything by it. Plus you've had it much worse today any of us. I think you get a pass." She walked over and gave Sora a pat on the back.

"We're all done?" Tai asked looking as Ken and Cody loaded the motorcycle onto the back of the bus. "The faster we get out of this blaring sun the better. Ken with a final push got the bike into the back and gave Tai a nod. "Okay good, I guess since we're heading the same way we can accompany you."

Sora agreed and went to her bike. She picked it up from the sand, wiped it off and turned it on. The whole crew filed their way into bus. Mimi took her place at the driver's seat and started the engine. "You all ready?" She asked looking back. They all gave her a reassuring look, "alright, let's kick it!" She said as she grabbed the stick shift next to her and put it into drive. The bus's engine sounded like someone was banging pieces of metal together for a second before finally starting to move forward. Sora kick started her bike and started to follow the bus on its right side.

"If she's the priestess's daughter," Joe began telling to the others. "That means she's practically royalty in that village."

Cody had a little chuckle, "You think they'll hail us as heroes?"

"Not a chance," Tai told them. "Telling the villagers about the priestess's murder is unavoidable. But they won't tell anyone that the assassin made off with and nearly got away with their most precious holy artifact."

"How do you know?" Cody asked.

Tai just shrugged, "when she saw the assassin drive off, she didn't call out for everyone to chase him, she just enlisted the nearest person, me, for help. Obviously she didn't want the greater populace to know." He then flinched in pain as he grabbed his shoulder.

"Um Tai?" Mimi called out to the back. Everyone turned their attention to the front. "We've got a problem." Tai quickly limbed over to the front of the bus. Looking out the front window he could see about half a dozen men on motorbikes dressed in the same black cloak as the assassin. They were stopped a couple hundred meters away directly in front of them. The figures opened fire, bullets rattled the front of the bus. "Holy Shit!" Mimi yelled as she and everyone ducked from the bullets and shattered glass. Impulsively spun the steering and swerved left. Sora who also came under fire ducked behind her handlebars and swerved right instead.

Four of the figures kick started their bikes and headed after the bus, the other two headed after Sora.

Ken was the quickest to react, he grabbed an assault rifle from a container on the ground where he had fallen and laid some covering fire for everyone out the window. "Fuck!" Tai called out as he felt the back of his head for any bits of glass. He looked over at the others. "Anybody hurt?"

Everyone slowly emerged from their cover shaking their heads. Joe scurried over to where Ken was shooting, he grabbed the gun from Ken's arms and began to fire himself. Ken moved over and grabbed another rifle from a container, passed it to Cody before getting one for him. Tai looked over at Mimi who raised her head up as she continued to try and get the bus under control. Izzy peered over at the radar. He then raised his head up to look out the window of the bus. "We got four on our tail. Sora's got two on her tail heading west. Shit, they split us up."

Hearing that Tai got up and limbed right over to the back of the bus where he grabbed onto his dirt bike. His arm was pulled away from it though by Kari. "No way bro, you're hurt."

"I'm not about to leave her!" Tai exclaimed.

"Then let me go after her." Kari said in response.

Tai's fist clenched knowing his inability and slammed it onto the bike's seat. He then looked Kari straight in the eyes. "Okay." Tai turned around and started to head to the front. Kari jumped onto the seat of bike and walked it up to the back doors of the bus. "Let's get some covering fire down and for fucks sake kill these bastards!" Tai commanded of his crew.

Kari kicked open the back doors and then proceeded to kick it started and drive it right off the back. The bike flew into the air for a second before hitting the ground and driving off in the opposite direction of the bus. Joe, Cody, and Ken were all laying down covering fire at their attackers.

The figures chasing the bus were surprised by the bike emerging from the bus. The gunfire from the bus made it almost impossible for them to chase after her, though one attempted to. TK who was lying on top of the bus holding onto the rack saw the attacker follow after Kari. He quickly turned over, held his rifle and aimed at the figure. It was an easy target, heading in a straight line after her. A single shot hit the pursuer right in the back. The lifeless body fell forward as his bike crashed into the sand. Holding onto his rifle and not the rack meant when the bus hit a bump TK flew nearly a foot into the air crashing into the back of the rack away from his gun. This meant having to lay flat on top of the bus, out of sight from the other attackers but unable to do anything.

Sora was panicky, she had two pursuers hot on her tail. Luckily she had driven into a more hilly part of the desert, this made it hard for her attackers to even get a shot away, let alone a good one. Adrenaline filled her body as she pushed her bike to the limit speeding as fast as she could. A gunshot rattled her concentration for a second but the bullet missed by a mile. She turned sharply around a hill but found her driving straight into flat ground. Knowing her advantage was quickly about to change she took out the assassin's pistol she had grabbed. She turned around and fired twice at one of the attackers, a headshot sent the figure flying back off their bike. Before she could turn her sights to the other her bike was rattled with bullets hitting her back tire sending her flying off her bike.

The figure approached slowly towards the wreak. Sora had fallen directly behind her bike. The attacker tried firing a couple rounds into bike to try and get the gas can to explode but to no avail. Sora waited gripping her pistol as hard as she could. The figure stopped about twenty meters away and got off his bike. Sora took a deep breath, she then threw her arm over the bike and fired two shots at the figure. A bullet hit struck the figure's arm forcing him to drop his gun. Sora then jumped to her feet and ran to the figure. The figure took out his knife with his one still functioning arm. Sora dodged his single swipe and tackled the guy to the ground. From there she grabbed the guy's gun off the ground and pulled the trigger. Sand had gotten into the gun and jammed it. This allowed the figure to take another swipe with his knife, the tip of the knife cut across Sora's cheek. Running on pure adrenaline she didn't even notice and in return smashed the blunt of gun into his skull, then again, and again.

Looking at the bloody carcass with brains splattered everywhere Sora felt her hand shaking. She fell to the ground and laid there trying to catch her breath and come to terms with everything that just happened. The blaring sun beamed down on her face. She slowly moved her hand across her cheek to feel the cut on it. Then shadow began to cover where sun had been. Her mouth drew open as she saw a black figure with black wings descend from the sky.

Mimi ducked again as bullet rattled the front of the bus, which was taking quite the beating. "Hey Joe? You want to ride shotgun?" Mimi called out. Joe who was at the side of the bus quickly ran to the front with his head down. He placed himself behind the front siding by the door. There he smashed away any remaining glass to give him a better shot.

Reaching into his holster Tai took out his pistol and then looked at Izzy who was examining some of the equipment on the bus floor. "Any ideas?" Tai asked.

"They're breaking off a little, I think they're plan was to get two on either side. But with one already gone, them splitting up might go to our advantage, I don't think they're aware how many we are in here. Mimi go right about twenty degrees that should be enough incentive for them to split from the back." Izzy explained.

Mimi nodded and turned the steering wheel just a tad. Sure enough the attackers split one heading onto the left side, the other two on the right side. The one on the left began to fire at the back tires, but the tires were reinforced and caged as to prevent being blown out. Cody now on the left had a clear shot, forced himself out of the window and blasted the figure with his rifle. The guy rattled with bullets hit the ground hard. "Ha ha! I got one!" Cody told the others. "Left side is clear!"

Everyone's attention was then turned to the right side. The two remaining attackers were at the back right corner of the bus trying to gain some momentum. Tai crouched over to an equipment box he grabbed a grenade from it and tossed it to Joe, "Hit'em with this!" Tai ordered.

Joe nodded as he caught the grenade with one hand. Joe swung his rifle behind his back and opened the front side door. He then looked over at Mimi, "Swerve left when I say!" Mimi gave him a nod. Joe took a deep breath before pulling the pin of the grenade. He held it in his hand and counted silently in his head for a second, "Now!" He yelled as he lobbed the grenade out the door. Mimi immediately swerved the bus as hard as she could. Everyone was sent flying to the right side. Joe was barely able to prevent himself from being thrown out the door. The grenade dropped right in front of the attackers and exploded right away. The explosion sent one attacker flying into the air. The other was stunned and tried desperately to keep his balance. This distraction made him an easy target for Ken who shot the guy right off his bike.

A large sigh of relief filled the bus with all the attackers dead. The sole exception being Tai of course, "Izzy, get a lock on Sora and Kari on the radar. Give Mimi the coordinates. We're not out of this yet people."

Sora couldn't move as the large black winged figure descended in front of her. She looked over for any kind of weapon but the best she had was the blunt end of the rifle she smashed the other guy's head in with. The winged creature had a humanoid figure but was definitely not human. Once the creature's feet touched down on the sand Sora charged at it with her the rifle but it easily swatted her to the ground. Out of options she looked on as it stretched out its hand reaching for her face.

A gun shot echoed through the distance. Sora turned to see Kari zooming her way on a dirtbike. Kari's second shot was a bulls eye striking the creature's outstretched arm. The creature let out the most hideous scream. Kari charged at the creature. She leapt from the dirtbike at the last second, allowing the bike to crash into it. Finally the creature retreated back to the air and flew away injured.

Kari helped Sora stand, "Was that what I think it was?" Kari asked.

"Yes, a Digimon." Sora replied.

_Afterword:_

_The first chapter of a story I'm unsure about whether or not I'll continue but I thought it was fun enough to post it. In case you're wondering yes Matt, Davis, and Yolei are present in the story, but where and how is the question._


	2. The Job

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

The flames of the giant fire lit up the center square of the village. The sound of tears filled the crowd who had gathered. Sora stood silently as her eyes fixated at the burning body wrapped in cloth. She now wore a pure black robe with a hood draped over her head. Light flickered on her face as the flames crackled. She could still hardly believe her mother was dead. She just wanted to hide in a dark corner and never come out. But that wasn't going to happen, no matter how much she wanted it.

Tai and his crew were sitting around a makeshift outdoor bar connected to the Inn they were staying at away from the large crowd. Tai stood off to the side away from the others, he watched the fire and what seemed like every villager standing around it. He paid close attention to the priestess's daughter standing right by the flames. Ever since they arrived back in the village he had been going over the days events, trying to make sense of everything. "So what's the plan now fearless leader?" Izzy asked.

It took a second for Tai to respond as he kept looking out at the fire. "Head out early in the morning. Go to the next village, we still got plenty of shit to sell." Tai said taking a sip from his drink. "I'll leave you to get everything organized."

Izzy just let out a sigh. "Great, save the holy ancient artefact from deadly assassins in the afternoon, recording storage at night. Just an average day I guess." He sat at round table with Joe sitting across from him and Mimi to his side. The next table over sat Ken, TK, Kari and Cody.

"I'll drink to that." Joe said raising his glass. Izzy looked disapprovingly at Joe, but after Mimi raised her glass, Izzy reluctantly clunked glasses.

"After getting shot at I'm always happy to get back to the boring routine stuff." Cody admitted.

TK continued to wear a long cloak. "Happy would not be the word I'd use to describe that feeling, relieved? Maybe. But no matter how many bullets get shot at me I will never be happy to count and record our entire inventory."

"I guess that's why you're always up on the top of the bus there." Ken said back with a chuckle.

Izzy leaned back in his chair till his head was next to Ken, he then spoke softly but load enough that everyone sitting at the table could hear. "No, he's up there because Tai doesn't want him inside the bus, or anywhere close to his sister." He told them with a smirk. TK and Kari both just rolled their eyes while Ken and Cody looked over to see if Tai had heard but Tai continued to look off at the fire.

Getting out of her seat, Kari walked over next to her brother. "How are you doing big brother?" She asked him.

"I don't know, I mean we did out there right? We stopped the bad guys and stuff. I can't get over the fact that I just went after that guy abandoning the team after just a sentence or two from that Sora girl." Tai opened up to her.

This made Kari just shake her head. "Oh please Tai, you are a great leader, you're fighting capabilities are quite impressive. However, you're completely incapable of saying no to a young woman, especially when they're cute." She giggled, looking back up at his face she saw no change in his facial features, he remained stiff faced. "Are you serious Tai? You're blaming yourself for the priestess's death aren't you?" Tai did not respond. "Damn it Tai! You always do this, blame yourself. There is no way you could have had any clue someone was going to get assassinated today."

Tai hung his head, "I know it's stupid but I just wish I could have done something more."

"You just wish you could have done something more for her." Kari said alluding to Sora. "She's a nice girl, I don't blame you."

A guard wearing a brown uniform holding a rifle approached the group. He walked right up to the two tables. "Who is the one in charge of your little unit.?" The guard asked.

Mimi pointed in Tai's direction, "The guy with the messy brown hair and goggles."

Becoming aware of the situation Tai turned around to face the group as the guard approached. He walked straight up to Tai. "The senior elder requests your presence immediately, he'd like to thank you personally as well as discuss business with you and your unit."

Glancing over at the others for a second Tai nodded, "Okay, lead the way."

The group of scavengers travelled to the tall black tower. They passed by the guards and entered inside being led down a long dark passageway. The first thing Tai noticed was the lack of windows inside. If it weren't for the torches they passed every few feet it would be complete darkness, even in the day. The corridor was long and winding. If Tai had to guess, they were underground, a ways past where the limits of the building stood outside. This meant the temple was much larger than it appeared, spanning almost the length of the entire village underground.

Finally they were lead into a large room with an old man standing on a raised platform to the side. Tai figured the room for some kind of private chapel. The man was bald wearing a long red robe. The guard who had been leading them quickly exited the room and closed the door behind him. "Welcome, I'd just like to tell you how thankful I am you were able to assist Sora in stopping the assassin and retrieving the Staff of Antioch."

"We were happy to lend a hand." Izzy replied.

"I am sorry for calling you here so late at night. I was afraid though you might be leaving in the morning. Is that your plan?" The elder asked.

Tai nodded, "Yes, we are scavengers and we still have plenty to sell. So we leave in the morning to the next village."

"I see, now I want to listen carefully to what I am about to say. You all are surely aware the gravity of our situation is here, having a Digimon descend from the mountains to the coast. They have not been seen in years and it now seems they have somehow recruited humans to their cause. The Staff is no longer safe here. We need to hide it, the temple in Amenemhat is much more fortified, and it would be safer there."

"You want us to transport the Staff? How do you know we are trustworthy?" Kari asked, trying to get to what the elder was saying.

"Yes," the elder replied. "We would transport it ourselves, but the less who know about the staff disappearing the better. I trust you because you could have easily taken the staff for yourselves and driven off already. Plus you would not be delivering the staff directly; one of the children of the temple will have the staff in their possession. All we ask of you is to transport this person safely. It will be on your way, and we are willing to pay very nicely."

Tai brushed his hair with his hands as he began to think about the proposal. "Who will be the one delivering the Staff?"

"Sora, she is the daughter of the High Priestess, which means the staff now is in her care. She has been training her whole life to protect the staff. You have seen first hand how capable she is." The elder told him.

Izzy found he needed to interject, "We don't transport people. We're not bodyguards, we're scavengers."

Joe added his own opinion, "Plus the risks we'd be taking if we brought her along. Those guys meant business out there; they were not your average thugs and raiders. Not to mention if one of those digimon decides to go after the staff personally again."

Looking over at Tai, Kari saw the look in his eyes and knew what he was thinking. "You're not serous?" She said in disbelief.

"I accept your offer. We transport Sora to the temple, that's it. No word of this is brought to anyone except her. We leave at early dawn without any attention. If either of these conditions is broken our agreement is over. And we're paid up front." Tai laid out his claims for the elder; he then turned and looked at the rest of his team. "Any objections?"

Nobody had a happy face on, most seemed fairly unpleased but nobody felt the need to say anything to their leader. "We're all behind you boss." Mimi assured him.

"Excellent, we shall make all the necessary arrangements." The elder said as he motioned them to leave. Tai turned and walked out of the room with the rest of his team following slowly behind him. Once outside Tai continued to walk straight back the way they came.

When the team was out of the earshot of the guards at the door Izzy walked right up next to Tai. "Is this really such a good idea? Have you looked at all the angles? I mean we're almost guaranteed a fight when we leave this town."

Tai just shrugged his response. "I know." They exited the temple and walked down the steps. Tai turned and faced his team, "I'm going to radio some help." He told them before turning and walking in the opposite direction from the hotel. The others just stood there and watched him leave before turning and walking towards bed.

The team reached the hotel, the fire that had been burning nearby was now out and the streets empty. Izzy took a seat down at one of the tables at the bar outside. "Man I need a drink." Joe walked over to the bar and saw nobody was there. He reached down and grabbed three beers out from behind the bar. Dropping some money on the top of the bar he walked over and passed one to Izzy. "Thanks man." Izzy looked over at the others who were just standing there. "Since Tai left me in charge of organizing our supplies, I will deal with this matter personally, by allocation: Ken and Cody, you two catalogue the new merchandise, everyone else is free to get some rest."

Mimi grabbed the third beer from Joe and sat down at the table with Izzy, Joe was quick to follow. Cody and Ken both looked at each other for a second before walking over to where the bus was parked. "Goddamn it, always having to do boring stuff." Cody complained to Ken.

"Wait, weren't you just saying before how much you enjoy doing the boring stuff after a dangerous firefight?" Ken was confused.

They reached the bus and both made their way inside. Ken grabbed a clip board as Cody began to examine their new motorcycle. "Yeah and I meant it. But there is one specific exception from the rule. That's when I know I'm going to enter another dangerous firefight soon, maybe multiple. At which point I start to cherish every moment I might have left, and suddenly the boring stuff starts to suck."

Back over at the bar Mimi, Izzy, and Joe were relaxing and enjoying the quiet. Slowly Kari and TK started to head upstairs together. Mimi watched them from her seat at the bar. "Those two are too cute, it's almost sickening."

"I still can't believe Tai let's Kari stay on the team. I mean she fought a digimon today. If that was my little sister," Joe went on.

Mimi interrupted him, "She's a stubborn one though, I think Tai realises that she's not about to just give up the scavenger life and get a normal job if he kicks her off. If anything that'd just push her to want to do something more extreme, this way at least Tai can keep his eye on her, for better or for worse."

"Plus she's really good at what she does." Izzy admitted. "In a couple of years she could easily be as good as or better than Tai. She's already probably better on the motorbike than he is. At least she doesn't get herself shot." He then took a sip from his beer.

Tai finished with the radio and put it down. He then exited the guard post. He put his hand to his face and took a deep breath. He'd always been the leader for as long as he could remember. It was a position he was comfortable with but sometimes he wished he didn't have to be the one in charge, having to make the difficult decisions. From the guard post he started to walk back towards the hotel. At the corner of his eye he saw a figure approaching, "What are you doing out so late?"

The figure approached and took off her large black hood. "I just needed to get some air. I never could get used to sleeping in the temple." Sora explained.

"It's not easy, I know." Tai agreed.

"I heard you were out and about, making some kind of call over our long distance radio. I just wanted to thank you for everything you and your team have done for me and my village. And say I look forward to travelling with you." Sora was very grateful. Tai's face though remained neutral, staring forward, Sora could sense the anxiety he was feeling about everything. "I also wanted to apologize." Tai looked over at her with a perplexed look on his face. "For what I said back there, about killing coming easy for you, I don't know what came over me. I mean I didn't want to imply you were killers but, god I don't know." Sora stumbled through her words.

Tai reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, killing, it's not something I ever want to do, but in the moment, I guess it has become easier, it frightens me a little, but I've done what I've had to in order to survive. If things had been differently, I'd hate to think of what I'd be capable of." After a moment Tai realised that what he just said was not particularly comforting, so he slid his hand off her shoulder and brushed it through his hair. "Um, yeah anyway, it was a tense situation, apology accepted."

The two of them finally reached the shanty hotel that Tai and the gang were staying at. Mimi nudged both Joe and Izzy once Tai and Sora came into view. "I guess I'll see you in the morning." Sora said stopping in front of the hotel. She then turned and faced the other three team members sitting at the bar. "Thank you again, all of you. I look forward to travelling with you." And with that she walked off, Tai watching her all the way till she was out of sight.

"Please tell me we're not risking our lives so you can get all cuddly with a lady friend, again." Izzy said in jest.

Tai looked over and just have him a disapproving look. "I told you it wouldn't happen again and I meant it." He then saw the dozen bottles of beer now scattered on top of the table the three were sitting at. "Where'd you get the beer?" He asked. Joe leaned back in his chair and pointed to the bar. Tai made his way over there; he looked around to find no bartender and just a pile of money resting on top. Just shrugging it off Tai jumped over the bar and grabbed a bottle of scotch from the back. He then made himself three triples of scotch, drank two of them in rapid succession before grabbing the third glass, jumping back over and taking a seat with his team mates.

The other three were clearly intoxicated at this point. "Man this is just like you." Izzy said starting to point at Tai, "Always wanting to play the hero."

"Hey give the guy a break." Mimi said back. "I love our dear profession of stealing people's junk and then selling it to shady merchants as much as the next girl. But honestly it's nice to think we're actually doing something with any kind of meaning to it."

Joe felt the need to voice his own opinion. "I understand the appeal to wanting to play the good guy and help people out, especially when they pay you for it but those weren't some random raiding party we just ran into. I mean a digimon! Kari shot and drove one of our motorbikes at top speed at the thing and all that did was scare it off."

"There's no guarantee we're going to have to deal with another fucking digimon." Mimi disagreed. "While those guys we faced on the motorcycles definitely weren't anything to shake a stick at I think we've done worse. Plus she's riding with us in secret."

Izzy shook his head, "How naive are these people? Those guys already attacked us. If I were them and I lost that staff, you know who'd be the first person on my go to list to try and take it back. Would be those scavengers who are leaving for the open desert the next morning who we already know are in contact with the staff."

"Exactly," Tai declared. "We're already probably going to get attacked, at least this way we paid for it." The other three just kind of looked at him. Tai stood up from his seat. "I'm packing it in. Make sure everything is in order when I wake up, we leave first thing in the morning." And with that Tai slowly walked up the stairs as the other three watched him from their table.

_Afterword:_

_Yeah so I didn't think I'd continue this story, but I felt like doing some writing and instead of coming up with whole new idea I thought I'd just write another chapter for this one. I'm really making it up as I go along without much of a forward plan. I'd love to hear what you think so far and if you had any ideas or suggestions._


	3. The Mercenaries

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.

_Forword:_

_Back by popular demand! And by popular demand I mean one person!_

Chapter 3

Tai finished putting on his dirty light blue shirt on. Grabbed his goggles off the side of the bed and placed them on top of his head. He walked out of the room and down the stairs to the outside bar. There were a couple awkward looks between him and the bartender who probably wasn't happy with how he found his bar that morning. Tai walked down the dusty street until finally reaching the bus. As he approached the first thing he saw were Kari and TK holding onto each other leaning against the bus. Those two saw Tai and quickly separated. Tai didn't say anything as he kept moving past them to the front of the bus. TK turned and jumped gripping onto the roof of the bus. With the help of Kari pushing him up TK took his place on the top of the bus.

Getting to the front of the bus Tai saw a cloaked figure standing off by the side with a hood covering their face. He walked over and placed himself behind the figure. "Let's get you on the bus." The figure nodded and they walked onto the bus with Tai directly behind, almost touching the figure. Once on the bus Sora raised part of the hood and looked back at Tai. "Lay down on one of the benches and remain out of sight until we leave the village."

Sora nodded, placed the hood back over her face and laid down on one of the benches near the front. Tai made his way to the back to where Izzy was standing over Cody and Ken who were both working on one motorbike. Izzy handed Tai a clipboard. "All of the merchandise is up to date, neither dirtbike is currently operational. I bought some parts from a local mechanic so we should have one fixed up soon."

Finally the last few members made their way onto the bus. Mimi took her place in the driver's chair. Tai walked back over to the front of the bus and leaned forward from the back of Mimi's chair. "Take us out of here, slowly." Tai ordered, "Let's get moving." With that Mimi played with the gear stick for a second before pressing down on the gas and getting them moving.

Tai went over and took a seat right next to Sora. Joe was sitting right in the front of the bus holding a rifle. Kari was refilling some clips with some spare bullets. The other three in the back of the bus were busy fixing the bike and dealing with other mechanical issues. It did not take long before they finally left the village, at which point Tai tapped Sora on the shoulder, "You can stop hiding now."

With relief Sora sat up and removed the large hood off her head. "God, it is such a pain to breathe in that, not to mention hot as hell."

"You were trained in the temple correct?" Tai asked her. "What were the skills you were trained in? It's going to be a long drive so you might as well be useful and help out where you can."

Sora thought for a second. "I've had extensive weapons training, especially with a pistol and knife. I know first aid, basic mechanics but I think you've got that base covered. I'm able to do anything you ask me; the temple tries to cover as many basics as possible."

"Good, as expected. Why don't you go and relieve Joe from riding shotgun." He told her, Sora was happy to help so she got up and walked over to where Joe was sitting. She put her hand on his shoulder and grabbed the rifle out of his hands.

Joe nodded, got up and headed to where Tai was sitting. "Hey Tai, let me take a look at your bandages, wouldn't want you to get an infection now?" Reluctantly Tai sighed and took off his shirt. Kari laughed to herself about Tai's resistance, but a quick look of daggers from Tai quickly made Kari shut her mouth. Joe put his hand over the bandaged up shoulder. He then applied pressure down onto the wound, which made Tai call out in pain; laughter erupted from the bus with the exception of Tai who was not pleased.

When they finished laughing Mimi looked over at Sora. "So I was wondering, if we're going to be transporting you to Amenemhat, how exactly are you planning to get back to your village?"

"I'm not going back." Sora replied, keeping her eyes on the surroundings out the front window. "The elder told you the staff is in my possession, that's only half right. In all truth, I'm in the possession of the staff. Where ever the staff goes, I go. I am not to leave it, ever."

Mimi was taken aback by her reply. "Are you okay with this? I mean aren't you going to miss your home?"

It took a second for Sora to think for a second before answering. "I can't really answer that. This was decided for me since I was born so I have lived my whole life training for this responsibility. I don't know any alternative. But I will say, that I'm fine leaving my village, I mean, it was my idea. It was hard growing up knowing I had all this responsibility and everybody reminding me. They meant well but it caused an unhappy childhood. I love them, but I'm glad to be free of them."

"Plus it sucks to stay in one place for too long." Mimi said trying to lighten up the conversation. "I could never stay longer than a few months anywhere, which is why I decided to become a driver."

"What does that look like to you?" Sora asked pointing out in the distance.

Mimi leaned forward and looked out in the direction Sora was pointing. "I don't know." She then turned her head to the back. "Izzy! We got something in the distance, black, looks like maybe a vehicle."

Stopping what he was doing Izzy went to his electronic equipment to the side. Tai immediately put his shirt back on and headed over to the front. Izzy examined his radar. "Whatever it is, it's not moving."

Tai reached forward past Mimi to grab the microphone from the radio on the dashboard. "TK can you give me a visual?"

Looking down the sight of his sniper rifle TK tried to see what it was in the distance, as they approached it slowly became clearer. "Looks like a dune buggy, with three individuals. There are two in the front and looks like some kind of weapon mounted on the top manned by the third guy in the back."

"Okay, keep your gun aimed at the guy in the back. Do not fire until I give you a signal." Tai said into the microphone before putting it back with the radio. He then turned to the others, "Shit, well it looks like they were out here waiting for us like we suspected. Everyone grab a gun and get into position. It's about to get pretty ugly." Everyone then dropped what they were doing, except for Izzy. Ken rushed over to the gun container and began tossing everyone rifles.

"Tai!" Izzy called out from the side, "It's started moving."

Tai turned around to face the front to see the buggy start driving in the direction of the bus but keeping a fair distance to the side. "He's going to try to circle back and get right up next to us. Cody, get a Molotov ready." Tai ordered. Cody quickly moved to the back of the bus, kicked open a container which had multiple Molotov's in it. At that moment Kari handed Tai a retractable telescope. Tai quickly extended it and looked out at the buggy following it's every move.

The buggy did exactly what Tai expected making a half circle right next to the bus. Now it was behind the bus driving quickly to get right next to it. Tai watched them closely as it got nearer and nearer. "Wait for it!" Tai called out to the others. The Buggy finally caught up now driving beside the bus on its right side a good one hundred meters away. The man on the back of the buggy swung the turret to the side aiming at the bus, he cocked it and got it ready to fire.

"Now!" Tai yelled.

TK pulled the trigger, the bullet hit the man on the turret square in the top of the chest sending him flying off the buggy. Immediately Mimi took a sharp to right, quickly filling in that hundred meter gap to only about twenty. Cody handed Tai a Molotov, Tai took out his lighter, lit the cloth fuse before knocking open the front side door and tossing the Molotov at the buggy. It was a direct hit setting the whole front of the buggy including to the two occupants on fire. The driver swerved for a second before losing control of the buggy, which went sideways and started to flip multiple times before coming to a dead stop.

Sora watched as the burning car went further into the distance. She could barely believe what she had just witnessed. For the first time since seeing that car she was able to actually think, before she was acting purely on adrenaline. She felt her heart was pounding about a million beats per second. Right next to her stood Tai, he stood so calmly and acted like he had the whole situation under control. He was unlike anyone she had ever met.

"Oh Shit!" Izzy called out from the back looking down at the radar, where three new blimps appeared, "We got three more of those bastards coming in from the left."

Everyone's attention turned to the left side of the bus. Tai looked through his telescope to see three almost identical buggies heading their way. "Knew there was more of them somewhere. Mimi turn left, try to keep them heading for our side and not let them get behind us." Tai then reached over and grabbed the microphone from the radio. "TK, try to take them out, shoot for tires."

TK looked down the sight of his rifle at the first buggy. These guys were moving a lot faster and were much farther away which meant they were a lot harder targets. He fired a first shot but missed; he cocked the rifle, fired a second shot but missed again. Taking a deep breath he aimed for the third shot. This one was dead on hitting one of the front tires. The buggy wiped out, flipping to it's side sending those inside flying outward. TK then turned his aim to the second buggy when something caught his eye. "Rockets! The second buggy's got a rocket turret!"

The others inside all looked at each other for a second. "Rockets? Holy Shit!" Mimi called out with terror having to continue to look forward. The side of the bus had reinforced siding to prevent bullets but would be completely useless against a rocket.

Tai looked through the telescope to see the man operating the turret aiming it straight for the bus. "Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it!" He yelled out to TK. Without even getting a chance to think TK aimed straight for the guy and shot. His eyes widened as he realised he missed, he quickly tried to cock his rifle watching the guy press down on the turret trigger.

A bullet shot out and stuck the rocket gunner to the side sending him flying off the side of the buggy, making the rocket turret jolt to the right and shoot off in random direction. Everyone on board let out a huge sigh of relief, with the exception of Tai who remained poised.

"A pretty nice shot if I do say so myself." A voice boasted on the radio. All those on the bus turned and looked at the radio.

Kari was the first to react grabbing the microphone out of her brother's hands. "Davis!"

Off in the distance came a speeding dark green Casspir APC. In the driver's seat sat a young man with brown hair and goggles identical to the ones Tai wears around his neck. "The one and the only. We're coming in from their left."

Back in the hull of the Casspir sat a young women with an old aviation helmet on and a pair of glasses. She was looking over a series of electronic devices almost identical to the ones Izzy was using. "I'm dropping our jammer so they can see us on the radar. Try to get in closer Davis, but keep to their right side; we should be able to box these guys in." A third person stood in the hull on a raised platform. He was halfway out of a hatch in the roof. Outside the cloth rags the young man wore blew in the wind as did his long dirty blond hair. A bandana covered his face and his eye looked down a sniper rifle he held.

"Matt." Tai said to himself. "Took him long enough."

"I got them on the radar now." Izzy said looking down at the equipment. "Mimi, steer left and the two of us should be able to box them in." Mimi nodded and turned the steering wheel. At which point the man on the machine turret of the third buggy opened fire on the bus. Everyone ducked down as bullets dinged the side of the bus. Cody raised his rifle above his head and fired it out the window blindly back at the buggy a bullet struck Cody's hand making him drop the gun yelling out in pain.

The Casspir came roaring through the desert towards the two buggies. Matt took a deep breath and fired a shot into the driver of the rocket turret buggy, killing him instantly and sending the buggy out of control and into a wipe out. Matt popped down into the hull for a second. He dropped the sniper rifle and reached over and grabbed an RPG. "Do you really think you can hit it from here?" Yolei asked watching his movements.

"I don't need to." Matt said before reopening the hatch and pulling himself up.

Back on the bus, Joe crawled over to where Cody was. Joe grabbed Cody's hand and immediately began to bandage it up. "Looks like the bullet just grazed it." Joe told Cody but also informed the others.

Sora was kneeling on the ground and looked over to Tai. "Don't move yet," Tai told her, "Just wait a second."

Matt looked down the sight of the RPG and aimed it as best he could. He fired the grenade which shoot through the air but missed the buggy exploding on the ground right by it. However the man on the machine gun turret got spooked enough to turn the turret to shoot at the Casspir. Matt immediately dropped down and closed the hatch behind him as bullets began to hit the outside of the armoured vehicle.

"Now!" Tai ordered as he jumped up as did the others and fired at the buggy. The two men in the front of the buggy were struck multiple times by Tai and Sora. The buggy swerved for a second before flipping over sending the guy in the back flying onto the ground.

Once the dust had settled from the fight and Cody all patched up, the bus and Casspir both stopped right next to each other. The front door of the bus opened and out came Tai followed by the others. The back door of the Casspir shot open and Matt jumped down followed by Davis and Yolei. The two groups stopped with about a meter's apart from each other. Tai took a step forward, "Matt. It's been a while."

"Tai. A year I think." Matt said taking a step forward. The two young men embraced and held onto each other for a few seconds. "It's damn good to see you."

"That it is." Tai said in agreement.

Once they broke their embrace Matt looked at the other members of Tai's team. "Izzy, Joe." Matt greeted them both with a nod.

"I got to say Matt, this is quite the surprise. For most of us anyway," Izzy told him while giving a glare over at Tai. In response Tai just sort of turned and ignored Izzy's look. "But glad to see you. Got the four originals right here." He said referring to himself, Matt, Tai and Joe.

Scratching the back of his head, Joe just sort of shrugged. "Yeah, Matt is right it has to have been at least a year. That seems like so much time, especially in this business."

Off to the side Kari grabbed Davis and pulled him into a hug. Then when they finished TK approached, he and Davis stared at each other for a second before embracing. "Hey man, long time no see. Glad to know you've been taking care of Kari." Davis said with a smile.

Kari stared crossed for a second at Davis, "Is that implying that I can't take care of myself."

Davis quickly went on the defensive. "What? No? I'm just glad you got someone looking out for you." Another blank stare from Kari, "I'm just going to shut up now." He looked over to TK who gave him a nod of approval.

"Do you hear that Kari? Davis is finally learning." TK said with a laugh, this laugh was followed by a friendly punch in the arm from Davis.

Both Cody and Ken approached Yolei greeting her with a smile. "Ken!" Yolei called out as she tackled him into a hug, this action nearly knocked them both to the ground. They stood in silence or a second before Yolei noticed Cody standing right next to them. "Hey don't think I forgot about you." Yolei said as she hugged him.

As this reunion between the two teams was happening off to the side stood Sora and Mimi. Neither of them knew this other team who had arrived. Mimi knew of Matt but had never actually met him. It did not take long before Tai and Matt made their way over to the two females. "Matt, this is Mimi, our new driver." Tai said introducing them, Matt extended his arm and the two shook hands.

"So you must be Willis' replacement." Matt greeted her, speaking very coldly. Without saying anything else Matt turned and walked over to Sora. Mimi felt dumbstruck by the way Matt greeted her.

It was at that moment Izzy walked up next to her. "That means he likes you." Izzy felt the need to inform her. Mimi just turned and looked at him weirdly. "Don't worry, he's really just a big softly, after you've known him for a couple years."

Matt paused and stared right at Sora, he looked her up and down which made Sora feel a little awkward. "I take it you're Sora then, from the temple. Can I see the staff?" He asked her very calmly. Taken back by the question Sora did not immediately know how to answer opting to just shake her head. "It's okay, I was just curious. Come on, you're riding with me."

Shocked by what Matt just said Sora looked confusedly at Tai. "I'm being taken by this guy? Are you okay with this?"

"Okay with it? He's the one who arranged it and hired us. Tai's paying a pretty penny too. I'll be over at my Casspir when you join us. Don't make me have to come and drag you there." Matt informed her as he lit a cigarette between his lips. Matt tossed the match, took a drag, and then proceeded to walk away. "Okay guys, reunion is over."

After watching Matt walk away Sora looked straight at Tai. Tai did not have that same confidence in him like before on the bus when they were being attacked. In fact Tai seemed vulnerable and unsure. Sora was still very confused and in some ways felt quite betrayed by him. "Let me explain." Tai said brushing his hand through his hair. "I didn't know what would be waiting for us when we exited the village. For all I knew a whole pack of digimon were right outside ready to attack us. I didn't want to risk the lives of you or my crew, so I called up Matt. Though he may not seem it at times, Matt is a really good friend, he used to be a member of our scavenger team, hell technically he still is. Me and him go way back, I trust him more than anyone else on this team. I wanted you to travel with him because he has an Armoured Personnel Vehicle, which you'll be much safer in than my bus if we get attacked again. And plus we'll not leaving you, we'll be driving right behind you."

Sora did not know how to reply. There was a level of trust that had been built between her and Tai which was now gone. For all she knew she was walking straight into a slaver's vehicle to be shipped away. Snapping back to reality Sora had to rely on everything Tai had done for her by that point and give him the benefit of the doubt. Silently she turned and walked away from Tai, while giving him a cold stare.

Before Matt reached the Casspir, he crossed paths with TK. They both stood silently for a second staring back at each other, TK was at least three inches taller than Matt. Taking a deep breath Matt pulled TK in close and held in tightly for few seconds before continuing on his path. When he stopped at the back of the Casspir Matt was pleasantly surprised to turn and see Sora not far behind him. She did not say a word and simply walked into the back hull of the APC. It was not long before the rest of Matt's team had made it back inside the Casspir APC. Before entering himself Matt hollered to Tai who was making his way back onto the bus. "Alright, follow our path and we'll in Amenemhat by sundown." With that both vehicles started to move, with the bus closely following the Casspir.

_Afterword:_

_So I wrote most of this chapter the same time I wrote the last one. I was definitely having fun writing it and as long as I'm having fun writing, I'll keep at it. Though I do very much appreciate any reviews and if you'd like to see this story continue in the long run, showing that your interested and liking it is the best way to keep me going. The next couple chapters in these afterwords I'll start talking about what I'm trying to accomplish with this story in terms of characterization, structure, influences, that sort of thing. I always like it when writers reflect on what they have wrote. _


	4. The Digimon

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.

_Foreword:_

_I just realized I never really said the ages of these characters. So just if you're a little confused here is a brief rundown._

_Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Izzy – (22-24)ish_

_Joe – (25)ish_

_Kari, TK, Davis, Yolei, Ken – (19-21)ish_

_Cody – (18)ish_

Chapter 4

"What the hell Tai?" Izzy called out as the bus drove through the desert. "Why did you call Matt? I mean I know these are special circumstances but I'm sure we could have dealt with it ourselves. At very least, why the fuck didn't you tell us?"

Tai sat with his arms crossed, legs out, with his head down and eyes closed. "I did what I felt was best for the unit. Would telling you Matt was going to come meet us change any of your decisions prior to learning that fact? No, the only thing telling you Matt and his crew were coming would have done is distracted someone thinking about it."

Izzy who was standing, leaning against the side of the bus was still not convinced. "I thought we were a team? Since when did you start making decisions and keeping it from us without consolidating us at all? I mean we're paying Matt about the same amount the temple paid us. Why take this job at all then if there is no monetary gain?"

Getting annoyed but also wanting to change the subject Tai opened his eyes and looked at Izzy, "I know you're my second in command but I can only take so much dissidence. Joe, you're my new second in command.

"Sweet!" Joe called out from the front where he was riding shotgun next to Mimi. "Izzy you're fired."

"Oh come on!" Izzy declared. "First off, Joe it's not like I have the power to fire someone to begin with. Second, Tai are you hiding something?"

Tai closed his eyes again, and waved Izzy away. Finally giving up Izzy walked over to the back of the bus where Cody and Ken were hard at working fixing up some of the merchandise. "The bikes are fixed by the way," Izzy informed Tai as he picked up a clipboard.

"Are you okay big bro?" Kari asked from the bench on the other side of the bus.

"Fine, I think." Was the confident answer Tai said without raising his head, which was throbbing quite heavily. His mind was filled with thoughts, about how it sucked to be the leader sometimes. Even more than that though was the young women he forced to be driven by complete strangers against her will. He knew she would not forgive him, and that surprisingly affected him much more than he had anticipated.

Over in the Casspir APC, Davis was up front driving with Yolei sitting in the passenger's seat trying to repair some broken equipment. "It was nice to see them again." Davis was telling Yolei. "I mean I know I'm the one who quit the old team but, like this is only temporary, for the most part."

"I don't even know." Yolei said without any clue. "But I will agree it was nice to see them again. Almost makes you wish you never left."

In back hull of the APC sat Matt and Sora, both on either side. Matt sat awkwardly covered in cloth rags with an assault rifle pressed against his chest, but yet he seemed to be perfectly comfortable. Sora on the other hand was finding the ride much more bumpy and hard to keep still; in contrast it looked like Matt was floating perfectly in air. "So what's your story?" Sora asked, "It's Matt right?"

Matt looked up at her, "Yeah, what do you want to know?"

"Who are you? Tai said you used to be a member of his unit." Sora inquired.

"Tai and I go way back to early childhood. We grew up together, just me and him. We had a peculiar upbringing to say the least. When we turned nineteen, without anywhere to turn and with the specific skills we had, the easiest thing to do was become mercenaries. After a while we formed a group with Izzy and Joe, our high success rate made us quite in demand. But after a few hard years, losing some good friends, the others tried to find an out, they discovered the dangerous world of scavenging, hired some new people and we made the switch." Matt explained to her.

Sora was surprised just by how much Matt said. She expected just a few words out of him. "Why did you leave?"

It took a second for Matt to answer that question. "About a year ago while out scavenging we were attacked by raiders, one of our members was killed, Willis. He was a very close friend of Davis over there," Matt said sticking his hand out and pointing to Davis in the driver's chair. "It was my mistake that got him killed. After that point I decided I didn't want to risk my or anyone else's life over junk, so I left."

"And the others?" Sora asked referring to Davis and Yolei, "They just left with you."

"They each had their own reasons. Davis actually quit before I did, he left right after Willis was killed. I had to personally track him down and recruit him. Yolei had worked under Izzy's close tutelage for a couple years. She needed to strike out on her own, and after Willis' death seemed like the right time." Matt explained.

Since the conversation had begun, Davis and Yolei had remained silent, listening in to what Matt had to say, and he knew it. Sora was slowly getting a little more comfortable than when she first entered. "So what do you actually do if you're not scavengers? Mercenaries?"

"Mostly, we do whatever pays the best. Our specialty is escorting people with this Casspir through the desert from one town to the next. But we also any number of jobs, bodyguard, bounty hunter." Once Matt was finished he put his hand through his hair. "Alright now that I've opened up to you a little and explained how no, we are not slavers secretly going to sell you off somewhere remote. Can you do me a favour and stop giving me death glares?"

While what Matt said was kind of rude, Sora couldn't help but giggle a little bit. If making her feel more comfortable was Matt's goal in telling her all of this, it sure worked. Over the years Sora felt one of her greatest strengths was the ability to read people. Matt had this composure to him; he was definitely more detached and distant than Tai was but he did not seem like that bad of a guy. He and Tai were clearly seeds from the same pot.

A loud bang from the roof rocked the Casspir as Davis struggled to keep control as it swerved for a few seconds. Both Matt and Sora were nearly thrown off their seats. "What the fuck?" Matt called out, more but less powerful bangs could be heard on the roof, everyone inside looked up confused. Matt reached over and grabbed the radio by Yolei's equipment. "Tai what the hell is that?"

"Matt! this is Mimi," Mimi called out into the radio having the clearest sight of the Casspir, "It's, it's a Digimon!" Everyone in the bus rushed to the front of the bus to see a large black humanoid figure with wings on top of the Casspir beginning to smash the on the roof. The beast was almost ten feet tall, covered in short black fur. It very much resembled the figure of a human except the face, which was shrouded in darkness.

Tai turned and gave Izzy a glance, Izzy ran to his equipment farther back in the bus and looked it over. "That's impossible! That thing just appeared out of nowhere, I didn't pick it up on any of my scanners."

Reaching over Tai grabbed the radio from Mimi. "Matt you guys stay low inside that thing. We'll go in closer and try to shoot it."

"That is a negative!" Matt replied. "If you shoot at this thing it'll probably go after you. A Digimon will rip that bus to shreds. We want to keep the thing on us. Hold your fire unless absolutely necessary." Matt ordered those on the bus, he then made sure his rifle was locked and loaded. Tai gritted his teeth but did not reply. "Yolei get back here and monitor this thing." With a nod Yolei got up from her seat and made her way to the equipment in the back. Sora reached over and picked up a rifle that was in a container before being stopped by Matt. "No, you're the merchandise, stay low no matter what."

Matt grabbed the rifle from her hands and put it back, he then turned his attention to the roof. Sora was definitely not pleased with the prospect of having to hide and not fight. "What are going to do?" She asked.

Just shrugging Matt positioned himself right below a hatch. "I'm not sure, but this thing is clawing through my roof and I'm going to stop it." Matt pumped himself up for a second as he placed his free hand on the handle for one of the hatches on the roof. He threw it open and immediately fired a few bullets out. The Digimon was startled for a second as Matt jumped up sticking the top half of his body out the hatch. Gripping his rifle tightly right up to his face looking down the iron sights Matt fired a series of bursts of bullets at the Digimon. Each hit sent the Digimon back a foot until the Digimon was sent flying off the back of the Casspir. It recovered quickly though, with it's wings spread wide it flew directly at Matt with its arm stretched out. Matt was able block the first swipe with his gun and beat back the Digimon's strike with the blunt side of his gun. The Digimon smashed away Matt's gun and thrusts its other hand at Matt. The hand transformed into a sharp spike right before Matt's eyes before piercing his upper chest, causing Matt to cry out in pain.

"Matt!" TK yelled out watching the battle from the scope of his rifle. TK stood up and fired a few shots at the Digimon. Striking it in the back, the Digimon's attention turned to TK, turning and flying straight at him.

Reaching up Sora pulled Matt down into the Casspir. Matt's body collapsed onto the hull floor. "Matt! Oh my god!" Yolei called out as she turned and saw the deep stab wound in his chest. Davis gave a quick glance back but had to keep his eyes on the road and keep driving forward.

The Digimon flew directly at TK, it swooped down and tried to strike him but he was able dodge it. The second swoop though knocked him onto his back on the roof. When he tried to get up he saw the Digimon directly on top of him. All he could see of the Digimon's face was its fierce red eyes. The Digimon transformed its hand into a spike as it had done against Matt. TK was frozen in fear as it raised the spike about to stab. Then suddenly it stopped, turned and looked back at the Casspir.

There was the staff, held up by Sora standing through the hatch Matt had been in. "You want it?" Sora yelled out. "Come and get it!" The Digimon flapped its wings and flew back towards the Casspir. The force of wind from its wings through sent TK flying back off the bus and rolling onto the ground. Mimi slammed on the brakes and the bus made an immediate stop. Sora ducked back into the hull of the Casspir closing the hatch. "Whatever you do, keep driving!" She called out to Davis.

As the Casspir continued to drive off Joe and Kari rushed out of the bus. They ran straight to where TK was picking himself off the ground. "TK! Are you hurt?" Kari yelled to him in a worried tone.

"Not seriously," TK replied as he tried to stand up. "I think I dislocated my arm though." He said grabbing at his noticeably limp arm. Just then an engine roared, Kari turned back at the bus to see the back doors burst open. A dirt bike jumped out being driven by Tai, it hit the ground and sped after the Casspir. Kari watched her brother drive off for a second as she clenched her fist. She then turned and headed back to the bus leaving a surprised TK to watch her turn away from him while being examined by Joe.

The Digimon had made its way back onto the Casspir and started banging on the roof once more. Those inside though had their attention on something else. "How is he?" Davis asked from the front.

"Not good, not good at all." Yolei replied, though sounding pessimistic, Matt's wound was serious. He had lost a lot of blood. "Don't die on us," Yolei muttered as she continued to try and patch his wound.

Davis tried to get a glance but couldn't see anything. "I can't see him, how bad is it?"

"Just focus on the road!" Yolei hollered back at him as things got more intense. Davis slammed his fist against the steering wheel in frustration. Sora grabbed Matt's rifle and swung it around her back with the strap connected to it. She held out her pistol in on hand and grabbed her hunting knife from the side of her leg with the other. Yolei looked up from next to Matt, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take this thing down." She told her, "I'm not just going to hide back as people fight to protect me so don't tell me to stay back." Without anything really to say Yolei turned her attention back on Matt. Sora looked down at Matt who she had assumed was unconscious from the blood loss, but she saw his eyes were open and looking at her. He had remained silent the whole time Yolei patched him up. Sora turned and moved up to the front right behind Davis. "Over there," She pointed out to Davis, "There are some dunes and vegetation, stop over there and we take this thing out."

Looking back at her Davis could not help but be confused with the person they were hired to protect now telling him what to do. Her composure had struck him; it reminded him of Matt and Tai. At the same time her logic was solid, that was the best place if they wanted to confront this thing. "Okay." He answered back to her.

Davis gripped the steering wheel with one hand and placed his other on the handbrake. Waiting for the right moment once they got close enough, he pulled the brake and spun the steering wheel. This made the Casspir turn sideways and make an immediate stop. The Digimon was thrown off vehicle and landed twenty feet away on the Casspir's right side. The back doors of the Casspir flew open as Sora stepped out. She stretched out her arms together holding a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other. Slowly sliding her feet forward she approached the Digimon who was just standing back up. The Digimon jolted its head in Sora's direction almost making her lose her balance. She saw it was injured from multiple bullet wounds. Its left arm was wounded. The right arm turned into a sharp spike once again. Sora prepared herself for its lung.

Bullets struck the Digimon's side, it turned to see Davis holding a rifle standing at the front left side of the Casspir using it as cover. Clearly distracted Sora sprinted forward, she ran right up and chopped off the Digimon's right arm. Then she grabbed hold of its right shoulder firing two shots off point blank into its chest. The Digimon swatted Sora away with it's left arm, about all it could do with it. Sora hit the ground a few feet away and retreated back to put some distance between them. She looked back to see the Digimon now no longer focusing on anything, flapping its arms around in pain.

Tai zoomed by Sora on a dirtbike. He drove to the opposite side of the Digimon before jumping off and rolling onto the ground. Once he got up he had his rifle already locked and loaded aiming straight for the Digimon. "Sora," Tai commanded, "Swing that rifle around and take aim." She was surprised to see him but did as he said. "Davis, get out from behind the Casspir. We're going to form a triangle around this thing and box it in. It will regain its focus and composure any second now and we need to be ready." Davis moved out of cover, the three of them now aiming straight at the Digimon slowly walked sideways until they were perfectly lined up. "Make sure this thing doesn't fly away either, no matter how many bullets it takes, it's too dangerous to let escape." Tai told them taking control of the situation. "Get ready to fire."

The beast flew up into the air, the three rifles unleashed bullets into it, the Digimon got to about ten feet before falling back down onto the ground. From there it let out a hallowing scream, finally exposing its large spiky teethed mouth. Tai, Sora, and Davis were all sent to the ground holding onto their ears. When the screaming stopped Tai let go of his head and looked up to see the Digimon standing right in front of him with a big devilish grin, ready to bite down. Tai quickly reached for his pistol as he saw a bottle moving through the air from the corner of his eye. Without a second to lose Tai turned back and covered his face on the ground. The bottle with a lit cloth sticking out struck the Digimon erupting into flames.

The Digimon began to flail its body and run around in a circle. Both Davis and Sora kept a good eye on the Digimon with their rifles aimed directly. Next to Tai a dirtbike came to a halt, he looked up to see Kari being the one who threw the Molotov cocktail. She reached down and helped Tai to his feet. "Always trying to play hero, you know one day Tai you won't have your younger sister there to save you."

Tai assessed the still flailing and on fire Digimon, but it was clear the thing was weakening, it was beginning to collapse. Tai then made his way right over to the Casspir and flung open the doors, "So how is he?" Tai asked.

"I'm fine." Matt said as Yolei helped him sit up. "Yolei patched me up good."

Tai extended a hand which Matt grabbed. Tai then pulled Matt out of the Casspir and onto his feet. From there the two young men watched as the Digimon finally stopped moving on the ground, Davis walked over and put two bullets into its skull for assurance. Sora flung her rifle around her shoulder and walked over to Matt and Tai. "You did good." Tai said to Sora as she approached.

"Good?" Yolei called out in offence, "She was fantastic, almost as good as you two. Took control of the situation, even took on the Digimon by herself and left unharmed, which is better than Matt did." The last line gave her a disapproving stare from Matt, "What? It's true."

Walking right up to Matt, Sora looked him straight on, "So now do you trust my fighting abilities."

To which Matt just shook his head. "It was never about your abilities, you were trained as a guardian of a holy artifact by the temple. I had no doubt your fighting capabilities were fantastic. I am being paid to protect you, so allowing you to fight a Digimon is just a little too dangerous, especially when you have the holy staff on you." He said pointing to her side under her cloak.

"You know what would be more dangerous for this staff? Not letting me fight to protect it." Sora countered. Matt simply raised his arms in defeat. Getting the satisfied response Sora turned and walked back to examine the Digimon's body.

After she had left ear shot Matt leaned over to Tai, "Yup, she's a keeper." He then proceeded to give Tai a little push in her direction. Tai looked back at Matt and rolled his eyes before turning and heading in her direction.

He jogged right up next to her. "Hey, I just wanted to say about before. Look, I'm sorry but do you understand now why I had you travel with Matt. There is no telling how that could have went if it were just us in that bus. That thing could have easily ripped right through it."

"After just forcing Matt to admit his mistake, don't think I won't acknowledge mine. You were right; I can see why you are their leader. However next time you want me to hand me over in the middle of nowhere to complete strangers, a little more reassurance would be nice." Sora made clear.

Tai let off a smile, "Dually noted." He said pointing to his head. Sora looked at him funny for a second before chuckling a little.

Matt lit up a cigarette and took a long drag just as the bus finally caught up with them and stopped right next to them. The bus appeared to be in good shape with the exception that Ken was standing on top instead of TK. Joe, Izzy and Mimi exited the front of the bus and made their way over to Matt.

"Well it looks like you guys have the situation under control." Izzy commented looking at the burnt corpse which was still partially on fire over by Davis.

Matt just shrugged; Joe noticed all the bandages on his chest. "How's the wound, it sounded pretty serious from your bloody cry of pain."

"I've been better but it shouldn't be anything serious hopefully. There was moment there right after being stabbed that I though it may have punctured a lung or something but I think it missed anything major. How's TK?" Matt said giving reassurance.

"A dislocated arm, he'll live." Joe just walked right up and pressed his hand down on the wound causing Matt to yelp in pain. Matt then gave Joe a mean stare. "What?" Joe asked, "I just wanted to make sure." He and Izzy had a good laugh before both continuing to walk in the direction of the Digimon's corpse.

Mimi was about to follow behind them when Matt reached over and grabbed her arm preventing her from moving, "Hey, I don't think we were properly introduced. And by 'I don't think we were properly introduced' I mean I was a complete jerk."

This took Mimi by surprise as she turned back and looked at him. Matt quickly let go of her arm. "Why the sudden change of heart?" She asked.

"I don't know," Matt shrugged. "When you think you may be dying, and I did think that for a few seconds there. You start thinking about all the bad things you had done recently, like whether or not you were a good person. And you were one of the first things that came to mind."

Mimi was having a continuously harder time figuring Matt out. "I'm flattered. Wait, just today you killed like two people and one of the first regrets you have is being rude to the new lady driver?" To which Matt just looked off in the distance for a second clearly trying to think of something to say in response but wasn't really coming up with anything. To which Mimi just rolled her eyes, "Mimi," she introduced herself extending her hand.

"Matt." He said in reply shaking her hand with a smile.

_Afterword:_

_The next chapter will be more talking than fighting and really get into the different dynamics of the team. I hope you're enjoying reading it. This story has many different influences in it: Road Warrior of course, a little bit of Final Fantasy, and a few others. The most influential story of course is a Digimon Fanfic called "Humanity" by Locke3, it is a fantastic story, probably one of the best Digimon fics ever. If you have not read it stop reading my story and go and read it. _


	5. The Town

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.

_Foreword:_

_So just a few things before the chapter gets started, I wanted to say first that the Casspir APC that Matt's crew drives in is a real vehicle so if you want a visual aid to what it looks like just google "Casspir APC". Additionally you can watch the Gorillaz music video "Dirty Harry" as it features a Casspir (and where I got the idea to use one in my story)_

_Now to address my wonderful reviewers:_

_Supershooter – I would say doubtful about whether agumon or one of the other companion digimon will appear. However I am still trying to workout the mythology of this world so there might be a chance. More likely though you might see some of the villain digimon appear, as Virus(like) digimon will probably be the most prominent in the story._

_Eva-After – I do love westerns and trying to transfer those kinds of stylistic conventions into different situations. They just have the coolest feel to them._

Chapter 5

The APC and Bus pulled up to the city walls. The city of Amenemhat was almost ten times as big as the village they had been at before. Inside the city at the center again was a tall tower part of the massive temple structure, this temple was almost three times as big as the one from Sora's home. The temple was made of black stone. Circling around the city was a three story high wall made of the same black stone as the temple. It did not take long to get clearance from the temple for the two vehicles to enter the walled city. From there they parked the vehicles and traveled to the nearest hotel by foot.

"Okay, here is the plan." Tai said to the others. "Matt and I will escort Sora to the temple. It is late so none of the shops will be open. The new cargo just needs to be catalogued but that's about it. Other than that, you're all free to do as you like."

"Just don't go overboard or anything." Matt emphasised, "I don't want to have to go look for anyone lying in a ditch covered in vomit, Davis." Matt made clear to Davis, who rolled his eyes.

From there Matt, Tai, and Sora made their way from the group heading to the big temple. The three travelled in silence as they approached the main doorway. There stood two armed guards on either side of the doorway. When Sora walked up the two guards immediately bowed and allowed her to pass but when Matt and Tai followed behind they stopped them. "No weapons." They told them.

Both Matt and Tai looked at each other. Before they had a chance to reply a voice called out from inside the temple. "It's okay, they can pass." And with that the guards moved back to their post without saying anything. The three of them then continued through the doors and into the front entrance hall. There stood an elder of the temple, in a similar robe as the one Tai encountered in the last village except he had a big bushy beard. "Sora!" The elder said. Sora was quick to move in and give the elder a hug. "It is good to see you. I am deeply sorry for what happened to your mother."

"Thank you, Elder Fujiama. It has been a long time." Sora said.

The two broke their embrace. Fujiama took a quick glance over at the other two before motioning all three towards a long torch lit hallway. "Ten years to be exact. Come, this way." He then turned and began to walk down many steps ahead of the others.

It took a second for the others to follow, keeping a good distance between themselves and Fujiama. Sora positioned herself between Matt and Tai before whispering, "That was weird, nobody except for guardians of the temple are allowed to carry weapons inside the temple."

Both Matt and Tai remained silent for a second trying to sneak a glance at one another before Tai leaned to her and whispered back, "Years ago when Matt, Izzy, Joe and I were mercenaries we did a job for the temple here. They were impressed and made us honorary guards."

Before Sora could muster any kind of reply Fujiama led them into a room and closed the door behind them. The room was of decent size, there was a large marble block in the center with purple cloth over it which resembled an altar. "I trust you were able to safely deliver the Staff of Antioch?" With a nod Sora took the staff out from under her cloak. "Very good. We have made special arrangements the staff with be held here in a secret hiding place under the altar. You will stay here in the temple Sora for the time being, I shall show you to your quarters." Fujiama then turned his attention to Matt and Tai, "I am surprised to see you two again, but I must thank you for escorting Sora and the staff safely. It is late, come back in the morning and I will see to it you are given extra pay. For now, come Sora we have much to discuss."

With that Fujiama then put his arm around Sora's back waist and moved her out of the room. She was able to look back briefly and get a quick glance of Tai before she exited and left out of sight. This just left Matt and Tai standing there, "Okay then, guess we have to show ourselves out?" Matt said with a sigh, he looked over to see Tai still staring at the door where Sora just exited. "Come on man, you and me have some stuff to talk about. She'll still be here in the morning." Matt said giving his friend a push in that direction.

It did not take long before the others back at the hotel splintered off into their own little groups. Izzy and Joe were the first ones to take off, presumably to "get to know" the locals at a bar or club. Cody and Ken reluctantly made their way over to the bus in order to finish cataloguing. They did not get far though before being stopped by Yolei. "What are you guys doing?" She asked.

"We got to have to make sure everything is in order for tomorrow when we go and sell the merchandise." Cody explained to her.

She simply rolled her eyes. "Come on, screw them, this is the first time we've seen each other in almost a year. If there was ever an excuse to blow off work I'd say now is the perfect time. Ken?"

It did not take long for Ken to cave in to Yolei's request. "Okay, it's not that much work anyway." He then looked over at his friend who still seemed a little hesitant. "What are they going to do? Fire us for missing one night of work. Plus it's Izzy's responsibility anyway." With a silent nod Cody agreed and the three friends were off.

They walked through the tight streets clearly meant for walking as it would be hard to get a vehicle through most of them. Aligning the streets were buildings made completely out of wood, each two stories high. It took a while but they found a quiet outdoor bar not far from the hotel, there they took a seat and shared a round of drinks. "I missed you guys." Yolei said flat out.

"The scavenging business hasn't been the same after you left." Ken admitted. "A lot more work too, Izzy has been working us to the bone." He and Yolei shared a chuckle from that one but Cody remained silent.

"Why did you leave?" Cody asked directly, which caught the other two off guard. "I mean, I can figure out kind of easily why Davis left, and Matt is, well, Matt. But I don't understand how or why you could just leave without saying anything."

Yolei took a large drink from her beer. "I care about you both deeply, the whole team, but I just needed to get away. Izzy and Joe took me right under their wing, taught me everything they knew. I felt that I had learned everything they had to teach me. They had their team, it was about time I had mine. Matt came to me directly and gave me that chance."

It was hard for Cody to accept her answer, "But we had such a good thing going, you, me, Ken, T.K., Kari, even Davis, sure it was Tai and other's team but that didn't matter."

"It wasn't an easy decision. I had to think about it for a long time. Maybe I made the wrong decision in the end but it was mine to make." Yolei replied.

"Come back to the team then, I'm sure Tai and Izzy would accept you back." Cody suggested.

Yolei though just shook her head. "I couldn't do that to Davis and Matt. They trust and rely on me. I'm not in a position to just quit, not at the moment, maybe in the future if things change but right now I am happy with what I'm doing. I really feel I make an impact, I just felt so useless on the old team."

After she finished there was a long awkward silence between the three of them. "Excuse me." Cody said getting up and heading to the washroom.

Lowering her head, Yolei just buried her face into her hand. Ken reached over a put his hand on her shoulder. "Cody took it the hardest when you and Davis left. It took him a long time to get over it. He's still the youngest, so it was harder for him to accept. Plus he was an orphan, remember. This team is the closest thing to a family he's had." He then grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face, placing it on the table but still holding onto it tightly.

Not far from those three were Izzy, Mimi and Joe. They had found one of the few other bars in the small little city. It too was outside. This one was more of a club though with a dance floor in the middle and flashing lights. Izzy, Mimi, and Joe stood off to the side watching those on the floor move their bodies to the rhythm of the beat. "So do you think we're done with this whole temple gig with Sora?" Mimi asked the other two.

"Not a chance," Izzy said back taking a sip of the drink that had found its way into his hands. "Tai has a keen interest in Sora that goes beyond business, so I figure we'll be stuck here for at least another week so he can monitor her settling in.

"Yeah, I don't think so either." Joe agreed. "Though after what we just fought through these last two days. I am more than willing to be within a nice walled city for a while."

Izzy shrugged as he looked over those on the dance floor, their appearance were definitely catching the eyes of some as they were clearly outsiders. "As nice as staying in one place can be, it's bad for business. I'm still having trouble comprehending Tai arranging for Matt's help. Something just doesn't add up. But alas we chose Tai to be our great leader which means we must follow whatever he chooses and wherever he and especially his libido take us."

"Especially his libido." Joe emphasized as they clunked glasses. At that moment a young female from the dance floor came right up to Joe, she grabbed his hand and started to dance. With a smile Joe chugged down the rest of his drink, put the glass down and followed as she led him onto the floor. Izzy and Mimi were quick to follow suit, downing their drinks and making their way over to the dance floor.

Right at that time TK, Kari and Davis made their way into the club. They took up standing not far from where Izzy, Mimi and Joe had previously occupied. "Geez, I haven't been dancing in like forever." Kari admitted as TK grabbed the three some drinks and handed one to each. Kari downed her entire drink with one gulp and handed the glass back to TK, who then made the trip again to grab Kari another drink.

When that new drink was firmly in Kari's grasp Davis could not help but laugh. "TK my man, when did you get so whipped, you're like Kari's little servant." To which Kari playfully elbowed Davis in the stomach. Nearly spilling his drink Davis was quick to recover peering around the club to make sure no attractive females saw him at his moment of weakness. "And yet," He muttered, "Some things never change."

"Did you really think being away for a year would stop Kari from beating you up all the time?" TK asked, to which Davis reluctantly shook his head. "Yeah man, how's been working with my bro?"

Davis just shrugged, "As you'd expect working with Matt, he just sits in the back, keeping to himself, relying on us to do most of the boring stuff, and then the second anything of importance or danger happens he takes full control and sole responsibility and doesn't allow us to do anything."

Both Kari and TK nodded in understanding. "That sounds like your brother." Kari said with a chuckle looking at TK.

"How's the old team been doing? You all surviving?" Davis asked.

"Travelling from town to town, scavenging whatever we can find on the way, trying to stay out of the hotspots, Tai taking full responsibility of the group, ordering us around at all times, controlling most aspects of our lives, he making Izzy deal with the mundane stuff while he still makes all the important decisions, then relies on us each to perform to specific tasks and duty when anything dangerous happens." TK explained.

Davis just nodded his head, "That sounds like your brother." Davis said giving Kari a glance.

At that moment Kari downed the rest of her drink. Instead of turning to make TK get her another glass she pushed herself off from the wall they were leaning on. She then turned around and looked at the two. "Well I feel like dancing. Anyone of you boys want to join me?"

Kari looked at Davis. "I still got to finish my drink." Davis said shaking the glass in his hand. Kari rolled her eyes as she turned to TK. In reluctance TK pointed to the glass he was still holding which wasn't even half empty. "We'll join you in a second." Davis told her, "But first, guy talk."

"Fine." Kari said turning back to face the dance floor. "I'll dance with Mimi." She then moved over to the floor.

It was then just Davis and TK standing against the wall. TK shifted his body over so he was right next to Davis and began to speak softly. "Hey man, I just want to say I'm sorry how things worked out, with Kari and everything."

"It's cool," Davis said not even looking at TK. His eyes were fixated on the dance floor and Kari's body moving to the beat next to Mimi. "It was her decision, and she chose you. There's nothing I can do about it but accept it. I mean I want her to be happy, and I knew for a long time she'd be happiest with you anyway."

TK was surprised by Davis' answer. "Thanks man, I honestly did not know what to expect when you came back."

Shifting his head Davis looked right at TK. "Admittedly I'd be lying if I said you two getting together didn't play a role in me deciding to leave the team. But, I've had almost a year to think things through and come to peace with it." Davis then placed his hand on TK's shoulder and shook it, "Plus there's plenty of other fish right? I got my eye on the girl in the purple dress." He then pointed with his other hand holding his drink at a figure on the dance floor.

Noticing TK and Davis were looking in the dance floor's direction, Mimi turned her head and locked eyes with the two guys. Mimi then made hand gestures in the direction of Kari who had her back turned, followed by a questioning shrug. Davis read Mimi's body language and let out a chuckle before grabbing TK's drink followed by pushing him in the direction of Kari. TK reluctantly made his way to Kari, grabbing her from the waste and tried not to think about how much of a terrible dancer he was. Davis downed the two drinks he possessed before making his own way to the dance floor.

Off at a third and completely separate bar from where the others were sat Matt and Tai at a table across from each other. "Why'd you do it man? You had to get us involved didn't you?" Matt asked.

"She came to me okay? What do you want me to have done? She told me to help her, and me only. You expect me to just say no? Sorry I am not going to help you chase down the assassin who just killed the high priestess." Tai defended himself while drinking from the scotch he had in front of him.

Matt reached into his pocket and grabbed a cigarette. He lit it with one hand as the other held his whiskey. "God damn it, she had to pick you of all people."

Letting out a deep breath Tai just sighed, "If she didn't pick me that assassin would probably have gotten away, and Sora gotten herself killed, you ever think of that? Plus we can't keep running from our past forever. And you're one to scold me. You're still not off the hook for leaving the team unannounced and taking two of my crew with you."

"First off, Davis had already quit, and Yolei's talents were being wasted with Izzy and Joe on the team anyway. On top of that, it was my crew as much as yours. Sure I let you play leader but you were never the boss of me. We made all the important decisions together." Matt countered.

Tai shook his head, "Why'd you leave man? I mean I know Willis' death hit you hard, it hit me hard too. There was a lot of discontent within the group after you left, questioning my ability to lead, for a while there I didn't know whether we'd continue. On top of that why go back to being a mercenary? Go back to doing something even more dangerous than scavenging. We lost a lot more friends as mercenaries than scavengers."

Taking a long drag from his cigarette Matt took a second to think before relying. "That group you have has too many close connections, good friends and family. I didn't want to responsible for any of their deaths, not again. If I could have just walked away from everything, never hold a gun again I would have. But I that wasn't going to happen, I'm too good with a gun. Even if I tried to escape this life I'd just be pulled back in one way or another. This world is just too dangerous, at least being a mercenary I'm fighting back, and not for some shitty junk."

The two best friends sat in silence. "You're still as stubborn as ever." Tai pointed out.

"You're still hopelessly chasing any girl who walks by, especially when they want you to do something horribly dangerous." Matt said back with a smirk. "Though I must say, Sora's quite the improvement. She gets the Matt seal of approval."

Tai chuckled a little, "Thanks dude, because your approval is by far the most important thing for me. Which I might add you only like her because you got yourself stabbed and she totally saved your ass."

"Hey, I just want to help a brother out." Matt said on the defence. "Plus don't think on the way here she didn't tell me about you getting yourself shot for her, so we're even. Though I have to say, getting yourself shot, smooth, chicks love that shit." Matt laughed.

_Afterword:_

_Starting at this point I'll be using the Afterword to talk about the previous chapter, my creative decisions, though process, and stuff like that. The last chapter being 'The Digimon'._

_I was not planning on having another battle, I was originally just going to right after they meet up with Matt go straight to the city. But I felt some characters, particularly Sora and Kari did not do much fighting in the third chapter and I really wanted to stress their fighting capabilities. I have written a bunch of other Digimon stories (with another penname) most of which never really got far, but they were very similar to this one. It would feature Matt, Tai, Izzy, and Joe as either Mercenaries or Rebel fighters or something, but really it would only be those four in any fighting capacity. Sora and the other females would be present but nothing more than love interests. When coming up with this story, being more of a mature writer I wanted to change that past failure and have Sora be just as capable of a fighter as Matt or Tai, with the others especially Kari just as good, if not better, than the rest. It is interesting because I've framed it that yes, Matt, Tai, Izzy and Joe were a mercenary group like in my previous stories, but this story is a few years later when they are older and more mature. _


	6. The Escape

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.

_Foreword:_

_Hey all! So this is the second time I've come back to this story. I don't know, I felt like writing and well, here it is._

Chapter 6

Sora hated sleeping inside temples, it was almost impossible for her. The musty air just made her sick from the stone walls. Plus it was doubtful she would be able to sleep otherwise. There was too much going through her mind. Everything had just happened so fast those last couple days. Her mother dying, meeting Tai and his gang, getting attacked by a digimon, leaving her home. Her hand was shaking from all the built up anxiety. Keeping her cool was getting harder and harder. She wondered if Tai and Matt were truly as cool as they seemed or were they just as much of a nervous wreak.

Tai was a nervous wreak. He was beginning to question even calling Matt back in the first place. They were good friends, better than friends, brothers. But he knew Matt wouldn't be able to forgive him for calling him back for this. Only Matt really understood the full scheme of the situation. That this wasn't just another job. Tai longed to be with Sora. He hated the idea of her being alone in the temple. She should be back at the hotel with them.

Matt was as cool and calm as ever as he walked back to the hotel. He had this numbness to his surroundings and situation. It was hard to believe he had been gone almost a year and yet nothing seemed to have changed with his old gang. Minus the new addition of Mimi, everything was as he left it. This made him shake his head, somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped that by leaving Tai would actually learn something. That however seemed like it was harder than he previously had thought.

When he finally came to the hotel Matt took a seat down in the crummy lobby. He hated being cooped up in hotel rooms and needed to spend as little inside them as possible, something he shared with Tai. Matt pulled out his harmonica and began to play the blues. There was nothing in the world that soothed his cold heart like the blues. From the corner of his eye he saw Mimi enter the hotel lobby. Mimi came and took a seat right next to Matt, listening to the music. She waited until he finished before saying anything. "You must be really sad, only someone truly sad can play like that."

"I've had a lot to be sad about in my life, but I'm not someone who talks about it." Matt told her.

Sensing a little hostility in his voice Mimi shook her head, "And I'm not asking you to. I was just making an observation. I have a keen interest in people. Especially you, the legend in flesh and bone. For a time I almost thought you didn't actually existed. What people would say about you."

With a peeked interest Matt cut her off, "What did people say about me."

"That you were kind of a giant asshole but also the most skilled fighter. At the same time you lead the team along with Tai. Which I could never imagine, Tai sharing the leadership position with anyone else. I think he's a great leader but he rules with an iron fist, not even Izzy can question him. But you, you could." Mimi described.

Matt just shrugged, "I never really lead the group in the same sense as Tai did. I more lead by example, and by if you don't follow me you're probably going to get shot."

This made Mimi burst out into laughter, which actually caught Matt a little of guard. "It's crazy, you are just how they said. Stubborn and arrogant like Tai but in a completely different way. He's so collected but it's really forced, he's trying hard to seem that way when really he's as anxious as everyone else. But it comes so much more naturally to you, like it actually seems genuine, like your not even trying. Sorry I'm rambling."

"It's okay. How long did it take you to hone your skill of reading people?" Matt asked her.

"When I worked as a transport driver before meeting Tai, I did a lot of contract work. A lot of shady contract work, in which reading people was something you needed to know when accepting a job." Mimi explained.

Matt nodded as he stretched out his arms on the couch he was sitting on, lounging in his seat, he was relatively relaxed all things considered. It was something that came naturally to him, that and being a huge prick, though that's only from what other people had told him. There was a sound at the door, Matt and Mimi turned their attention over where they saw Izzy and Joe enter with Davis not far behind with his arm around a girl in a purple dress. Izzy and Joe were fine but Davis and the girl were stumbling a little bit.

Davis walked over to the staircase leading to the rooms above, he put his foot down on the first step when a siren began to blare from the street. Matt and Mimi immediately stood up, they walked right over to Izzy and Joe. "That's the intruder alarm. The walls have been breached." Matt said. Within a few seconds the rest of their gang came rushing down the stairs. The girl with the purple dress had already run off.

Looking around for Tai, it was clear to Izzy that Tai wasn't there. He turned and looked at the group. "The city walls have been breached by an unknown force of unknown size. And I highly doubt it is a mere coincidence with us arriving. We're getting out of here now, everyone to the bus!"

Right by Izzy was Matt addressing Yolei and Davis. "We need to leave right away, you two go to the APC and get out of the city. Follow along the bus the whole time. We're the tank here, we can take a lot more damage, make sure to put the APC between the bus and any danger. Yolei you're the cover gunner, Davis your driving. You need to sober up a bit first." Matt then slapped Davis so hard it knocked Davis to the group. Davis winced in pain before looking back up. "There, you should be more sober now."

"Wait? Matt what about you? You're not coming?" Yolei asked.

Matt shook his head, "No, I have to go and get Sora." He then turned and began to run away. Everyone in Tai's crew heard what Matt said, especially Mimi.

"Let's go!" Izzy hollered to everyone. He then began to sprint in the direction of the bus with the rest closely behind him. Izzy pulled out his pistol, cocked it and took cover at a corner before the bus. The crew all followed him and took cover against the wall next to him. Izzy turned to the others, Joe standing right next to him handed Izzy a mirror. Izzy stuck the mirror past the corner and looked over where the bus and APC. "I don't see anything, the coast looks clear. Joe, go scout it out."

With a nod Joe clutched the pistol gripped in his right hand. He then ran out from the corner towards the bus. He sprinted out from the clearing, jumping for cover in between the bus and APC. He picked himself up and surveyed the surroundings. Looking back to everyone else he gave the 'all clear' signal. The rest of the crew came out from behind the building and towards the bus. "Listen up!" Izzy yelled out, "Cody and Ken check for explosives under the bus, TK up on the top and look out for snipers, everyone else inside and get the bus prepped!"

In one continual motion Ken and Cody ran to the side of the bus and slide down under. Kari ran right up to the side of the bus she then placed her hands out flat. TK came running behind her and jumped up placing on foot on her hand and with her help he was able to get up on top of the bus immediately. The others ran right into the bus, Mimi jumped down onto the drivers seat and got the engine started. TK grabbed the sniper rifle stashed on the top of the bus and stood up. He then peered through the scope and searched the surrounding rooftops for any activity. "We're clear!"

Davis ran to the side of the APC and opened up the drivers door. He sat on the drivers seat and turned on the engine. He then gave himself a couple slaps to the face to make sure he was fully sober. Yolei came in through the back door. She grabbed one of the rifles in a container. She then opened one of the top hatches, sticking herself out of it, making sure her gun was locked and loaded.

When Kari got on the bus the first thing she saw was Joe open the back door. Izzy then pushed one of the dirtbikes off the bus. Joe walked over and pushed the other bike off the back of the bus. "What are you guys doing?" Kari asked them.

"We're giving Tai and Matt their means of escape." Joe explained to her. Kari did not quite understand how they seemed to know exactly what Matt and Tai were doing. This was hardly anything new though, Matt, Tai, Izzy and Joe had been fighting together for a long time. They seemed to understand each other in ways none of the others could.

Both Ken and Cody came into the bus, "No explosives." Cody informed them. "So if we weren't the targets then what is?"

Joe and Izzy both turned and looked out the bus window at the tall black stone tower. "I'll give you one guess." Izzy stated, "We leave, now!"

Tai ran through the streets, he had two automatic pistols, one in each hand. The siren blared in the background as he ran towards his destination. It was clear to him who they were facing and who the intruders were. More importantly he knew what their target was, and he needed to get there and stop them. Adrenaline flowed through his body as he sprinted towards the tall black tower in the middle of the town. Shifting his eyes to each direction for any movement Tai saw none. A small sense of dread filled his heart as it became clear to him that the intruders must have already gotten to the tower.

Soon the main doorway of the temple came into view. The two guards that had been at that post earlier were nowhere to be seen. The main door was wide open. Without hesitation Tai ran straight into the front entrance hall. He began to spin around surveying the hall. There were half a dozen bodies lying on the ground. Some wore the ceremonial garb of the temple guard, others wore black cloaks like the men they had been fighting in the desert.

As Tai continued to turn in a circle looking over everything he felt a body come up right against his back. "Matt." Tai acknowledged. They now stood in the middle of the room with their backs against each other. "Took you long enough."

"I checked out the back of this place, no signs of struggle. The team that attacked this place is still in here." Matt informed Tai, Matt made sure to pump the shotgun he was carrying. They both then peered down the hallway they had travelled earlier in the day. Matt followed by Tai slowly entered the hallway sticking to one side with their guns up and looking through the sights.

They passed by a couple more bodies along the hallway. There was small bend in the hallway right before the room with the alter. Matt turned back at Tai who gave a nod. They switched to the other side so they would be better concealed. The doorway came into view, there were two figures in black cloaks standing on either side of the doorway. Their attention was completely on the doorway, each holding up rifles. It seemed they using the doorway as cover from someone inside. They turned and only got a brief sight of Matt and Tai before Matt shot his shotgun, pumped it, and shot again all in under a second. This sent both figures back against the wall and then down onto the ground in bloody heaps.

Both Matt and Tai then turned their attention to the doorway leading into the room with the alter. Tai stepped ahead of Matt and walked right up against the doorway, he was sure not to enter it. In a brief voice he called out quietly, "Sora?"

"Tai?" Sora hollered back sounding very confused. Tai looked over at Matt and gave him the all clear. They then turned and entered the room. Sora stood up from behind the alter along with two temple guards, they had been using the alter as cover. There were multiple bodies of black cloaked men lying on the ground. With a couple bodies of guards where Sora was standing."What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Matt shrugged as he stepped over some of the bodies. "We came to get you and the staff. Though it seems you were doing fine yourself."

"We were alerted to their presence early enough that we were able to set up our defences in the temple but not quick enough to mobilize enough to stop them at the wall." Sora explained.

"Doesn't matter, is the staff safe?" Tai questioned. Sora gave a confused look at Tai but reluctantly nodded. They moved the alter off its resting place to reveal the staff below. "Good. Grab it, it is not safe here, there's no telling how many more there may be in the city. We need to get out of here."

The bus and APC drove through the streets quickly. The APC was in front with Davis driving and Yolei sticking out the top holding a rifle. Directly behind them was Mimi driving the bus with TK standing on top of the bus. The streets were completely deserted, there was no sign of any citizens or temple guards. When they reached the gate entrance to the wall Davis had to hit the brakes. The front gate was closed and no way of getting out. When the bus stopped, TK looked up at the three story high black stone walls. Two bits of glare caught his attention from on top the wall. He fired two shots, that were followed by bodies plummeting off the top of the wall onto the ground. "The intruders have the wall and gate. We're going to have to open it by force." TK radioed in to the crew in the bus and APC.

Izzy nodded, he looked down at his radar. "There doesn't appear to be anyone outside the gate but we've got some unidentified dots within the city and their heading this way. We need that gate open fast." He peered out of the bus and saw a side entrance into the gate. "That must be where the commands are. We need two to go and open the gate, expect hostiles."

Without even saying anything, Kari nodded and grabbed a rifle. "I'll go," Cody said walking over and grabbing a rifle from the container. Both Kari and Cody walked off the bus and ran towards the door into the gateway controls.

"I'm coming too." Yolei radioed in as she jumped down into the Casspir and out the back door before Davis could even say anything. She ran over and caught up to the other two as they came to the outside door. Yolei and Cody took cover over at the left side of the door, while Kari planted herself at the right side. Yolei reached into her gear and grabbed a stun grenade. She stuck her finger into the pin and waited. Kari gave a nod, Yolei pulled the pin. Kari grabbed the door and swung it open, Yolei tossed the grenade inside. All three of them then ducked down turning away from the doorway.

A large bang erupted from inside the gatehouse, dust shot out of the doorway. With there still being a thick cloud of dusty in the air Cody jumped up and proceeded to run into the doorway, it took a couple seconds for Kari or Yolei to follow behind him. Cody moved through the dust holding his rifle up high looking down the iron sights. It was a long hallway, there was movement to the left of side of the hallway as a figure stood dazed from the grenade. Cody was just able to make the figure out as he could only see about a few feet in front of him from all the dust. Cody fired two bullets into the figure and then two bullets into another dazed figure in the hallway.

They moved a bit more forward and the dust began to dissipate. Soon they were able to see the command station at the end of the hallway. Slowly they made their way there. A door burst open right next to where Cody was leading. Cody quickly turned to see one figure charging right at him, on pure reflex Cody pulled the trigger to his rifle killing the intruder immediately. But then a second figure came at Cody, without time to shift his aim Cody swung his rifle in hopes of hitting the figure in the head. His rifle missed and the intruder was able to grab onto Cody's chest. Still in motion from swinging his rifle Cody used the momentum to swipe his leg and knock the figure off his feet. The figure was sent to the ground but was able to pull Cody down with him. When they smacked onto the ground they wrestled for a second before the intruder was able to get on top. Yolei came running up to help Cody get the figure off him. But Cody felt a piece of steel poke into his chest. His eyes widened as two bullets from a pistol were shot into him at point blank.

"Cody!" Yolei yelled as she pulled the guy off Cody, she kicked the pistol out the intruder's hands and then shot the figure right in the forehead. Kari jumped over them and ran to the controls. She grabbed the lever before pushing it down so hard it snapped. They could hear the gate begin to open outside.

Kari ran back to Cody, Yolei was staring down at him in shock. "We need to get him to the bus!" Kari ordered. She reached down and started to pick Cody up. Coming back to her senses Yolei reached and help pull Cody off the ground. They each swung one of his arms around their shoulders and began to head straight back out of the hallway.

The fainted sound of motors entered TK's ear. He turned and faced back into the town. He looked down the scope of his gun to see two figures on dirtbikes driving their way from centre of town. "We've got company! Six O'clock! Two hostiles."

Izzy turned to look out the back of the bus. His attention was shifted elsewhere when Joe called out, "Man Down!" Everyone's attention went on Kari and Yolei just exiting the building carrying Cody back towards the bus. Ken immediately ran to the front of the bus and opened the side door.

Right when Kari and Yolei made it onto the bus Izzy turned to Mimi. "Drive!" Mimi nodded and slammed her foot onto the pedal. The bus shot out of the city gate and into the open desert. It took a second for Davis to react but he was quick to follow. Everyone else's attention was fixated on Cody, they laid him down in the middle of the bus. Joe and Yolei knelt down right next to him while the others stood over and watched with horror in their faces.

"What's going on over there?" Davis asked through the radio. "Where is Yolei?"

Mimi reached over and grabbed the radio. "It's Cody. He's been shot." Davis did not mutter a reply, instead he just gripped the steering wheel as hard as he could. His heart pounding he shifted gears and turned the APC to be following directly behind the bus, between them and their pursuers.

Back on the bus Joe ripped open Cody's shirt. Blood was gushing out of the two holes. "I need bandage, a lot!" Joe yelled at the others. Ken was speedily rushed to the side and grabbed their medical supplies. Joe reached down and pressed hard onto Cody's body trying to stop the bleeding. Ken handed him some bandages and Joe started wrapping them around while still pressing hard.

"Cody?" Yolei asked looking at Cody's face, Cody was out cold and did not respond. "Cody? Can you hear me?" Tears began to stream down her face as Cody's his shot open along with body began to tremble rapidly.

"He's going into Cardiac Arrest!" Joe yelled at the others. Joe began pushing down on the chest doing so in shock rhythm. "Don't you die on me!" Joe cried out as he continued pushing up and down on Cody's chest. The trembling however continued and only grew stronger. Yolei opened Cody's mouth and began puffing air into it. The others simply looked on helplessly. There was an eery silence among them as they watched, their hearts pounding a thousand miles a second. Soon then trembling began to die down. "Come on! Come on!" Joe took quick pauses to put his head down against Cody's chest and hear for a heart beat. He returned to pushing down pumping Cody's chest. The trembling slowly stopped, Joe pressed his head against Cody's chest. "Damn it!" He cried out. The closest thing to him was a shelving unit of tools. Joe stood up and pushed it over in frustration. He then walked over and took a set on one of the benches, burying his face in his hands.

There was a surge of numbness that washed through Yolei's body. She could barely move. Ken grabbed her from the arms and pulled her up onto her feet. Ken immediately pulled her into a embrace. It was less for her sake and more for his. Izzy took a deep breath, walked right up to the body. Izzy knelt down right at Cody's head. All he could do was shake his head before reaching down and closing Cody's eyes.

Still in the city Tai, Matt, Sora and a couple temple guards rushed through the streets. There was little sign of hostiles but they still had their guard up. It took a few minutes before they came to where the bus had been parked. Two dirt bikes laid on the ground in the middle of the open area. Once they reached them Tai ran to one and got on. Matt and Sora reached the second. Sora brought the bike in the upright position. She took a seat with Matt opting for sitting behind her. She turned and looked at the guards. "Search the city, there might still be some intruders left." The guards nodded, they each then broke off in different directions.

"Come on, we have some catching up to do." Tai told Sora as he lowered his goggles. He then revved up the bike and took off. Sora gripped the handlebars, revved up her own bike and took off after. Matt, sitting against her back held out his shotgun looking around for any intruders. The bikes zoomed through the streets, went right through the front gate and out into the open. Their bikes were fast, they travelled at breakneck speeds over the flat desert. It did not take long for Tai to spot the bus ahead, he also saw there were some intruders following them. Tai reached over and turned on the radio on the bike. "Izzy! What's the situation?"

Tai's voice broke the silence on the bus. Everyone turned to the radio in the front and then to Izzy. Slowly Izzy got up and walked over to where the radio was. Mimi picked up the speaker and handed it to Izzy. "We've got two intruders on our tails, their on dirt bikes a couple hundred meters back."

"Okay, we'll move in to take them out. They won't expect us to come up on their rear." Tai spoke back.

Izzy lowered his glasses, he wiped his fingers across his eyes. "Tai." Izzy spoke with a pause. "We engaged some hostiles at the gate. It's Cody. He's dead."

Tai's mind froze, he wobbled on his bike nearly losing control from not paying attention until he snapped back to reality. Matt's hand clinched hard but Sora remained silent as they heard the news through their radio. Tai began to breath heavily as the words began to sink in. He reached over and raised his goggles back up. "AHHH!" Tai screamed, it echoed from the radio through the bus. Tai kicked his bike into the next gear. The front tire shot up but Tai was determined, the bike levelled itself and he zoomed forward at max speed.

"Match him!" Matt called out to Sora pointing at Tai who was moving farther and farther ahead. She pushed their bike to top speed, nearly sending both of them off but soon they too were moving at top speed forward.

Tai couldn't retain his anger he continued to push his bike to the absolute farthest it can do. A seething fire had erupted inside him. Tai had the one problem as a leader, everything was his fault. He tried to believe this was a way for him to grow and learn but he could not help himself. There was too reactions to these failures, defeat and determination. Right now he was determined to smash some heads. It did not take long for them to close in on the two pursuers, there was one in front of the other by about twenty meters. Tai reached over at the back of his bike, he ripped what he hoped was a non essential piece of steel right off the bike.

Without any hesitation Tai zoomed right by the first intruder. Instead he pushed himself after the one in front. The first intruder was completely baffled by Tai. Reaching down the intruder pulled out a pistol and aimed it right at Tai's back. At that moment he heard something to his side. He turned to see Matt jump off the back of Sora's bike and right onto him. Matt pulled the figure off the bike and they rolled onto the ground. Ahead the second pursuer finally turned around to see Tai come right up at him, Tai with his piece of steel struck the figure's leg. This made the figure wobble for a second before falling off his bike.

When Matt and his attacker stopped rolling Matt swung his gun around from his shoulder. He first smashed the blunt end of the gun against the figure's jaw. Matt then aimed the gun right at the guy's head and blew his brains out.

Tai stopped his bike immediately and jumped off. Quickly he walked over to where the intruder had fallen off. The figure had only gotten to his knees when Tai was already towering over him. Tai punched the guy as hard as he could in the face. The man hit the ground from the force. Tai grabbed the guy by the collar and picked him up, he took a second swing, then a third, and again, and again. He beat the figure repeatedly as hard as he could. Tai went for another swing when his arm was caught by Matt's hand. "Enough." Matt pulled out a gun and shot the gun in the head immediately without even looking to put the guy out of his misery. Matt took a deep breath and put on hand of Tai's shoulder. Tai stood there looking away without saying anything. Matt's hand on Tai's shoulder was very tense, all of Matt's body was extremely tense. Tai's hand began shaking as he wiped away the tears from his eyes. Sora could only look on at a distance in sorrow.

_Afterword:_

_There you go, another chapter. I have no idea if or when I'd write another chapter. I guess it will just depend on if I feel like venting some creative juices. Also might depend on how much feedback I get. So yeah, I killed Cody. I hope it was not too out of the blue. I wanted throughout the story to make it seem like these characters are not invincible, Tai's been shot, Matt's been stabbed, TK's been thrown off a bus. Even any action adventure Digimon fics that I have read, would rarely have any digidestined actually die. This story is different. If I continue this story you can be sure it won't be the only one too. But it's not just about that, I'm curious what you think of the story so far. I would love some feedback. If you have no idea of something to write maybe say your favourite character so far, best little thing of action, something like that. Anyway thanks for reading. To peek your interest enough to want to give some feedback in hope of me writing another chapter, in the next chapter there will be a major reveal a character(s). _


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